Chapter 288
Chapter 288
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter:
Chapter Title: The Small Fry's Backstab
-----------------------------------------------------------------
By the time Lu Yang snapped back to reality, Suo Huan had already been run through by Calamity Wave. The divine wonder of Yuantu on the sword activated with blinding speed in that instant.
Those slain by this sword have all ties of karma severed!
The original Suo Huan had been entangled in layers of karma. The various True Lords had aided his quest for the metal nature, and afterward, they would naturally use that karma to carve him up completely.
The blessed land returns to the Pure Land.
The metal nature returns to the Dao Court.
The fruition returns to the Saint Sect.
Not to mention that the current Clear Clarity Flying Snow True Lord was still borrowing that karma to shift part of the backlash from the Netherworld onto Suo Huan.
But now Suo Huan was dead. Under the divine wonder of Yuantu, the karma shattered apart. The remnants of his blessed land and metal nature instantly became unclaimed objects. Clear Clarity Flying Snow True Lord could no longer offload the backlash and had to tank it herself. The benefits were gone, but the price had skyrocketed!
This was Soaring Empyrean's trump card.
Why had he helped Lu Yang refine Calamity Wave? Besides exploiting Lu Yang's desperate straits to stage a ritual and draw Covered Lamp Fire's attention,
more crucially, it was this divine wonder of Yuantu!
He had used Suo Huan's hands to forge this spirit sword precisely so he could deploy its karma-severing divine wonder at the pivotal moment to force this outcome!
"You lot—keep fighting me, or go snatch the blessed land and metal nature?"
Soaring Empyrean let out a hearty laugh. But before the words even left his mouth, most of the True Lords had already pulled back, lunging toward Spirit Ruins Blessed Land and Suo Huan's metal nature.
The Pure Land and Dao Court immediately dropped their assault on Soaring Empyrean as well. After all, Spirit Ruins Blessed Land and Suo Huan's metal nature had been theirs by internal agreement. If others snatched them away, this expedition would end in total ruin. Suppressing Soaring Empyrean? That was a long-term play, relatively speaking.
Long-term gains meant they could afford to wait.
But Spirit Ruins Blessed Land and Suo Huan's metal nature? Those were short-term prizes—miss this chance, and it was gone forever. How could they just let them slip?
Besides, Soaring Empyrean was already injured, wasn't he?
Close enough was good enough. It wasn't like they could kill him anyway. Why burn bridges? Grabbing more loot was the practical move.
"As expected... still gotta rely on myself!"
High in the vault of heaven, Clear Clarity Flying Snow True Lord sneered coldly at the sight. She showed no sign of relenting—instead, she attacked Soaring Empyrean even more ferociously!
At this scene, Soaring Empyrean's face twisted.
"Shrew! Madwoman!"
He never dreamed that after watching the other True Lords stand down, Clear Clarity Flying Snow True Lord—knowing full well her realm was inferior—would still cling to the fight!
Understand this: the reason she'd managed to screw him over and leave him gravely wounded was half because he was enduring Netherworld backlash, half because she'd rallied the other True Lords against him. But now it was just this lone madwoman. What grounds did she have to challenge him?
Losses outweighing gains—didn't she know how to cut her losses?
Hadn't she seen even the other Saint Sect True Lords back off?
Yet Clear Clarity Flying Snow True Lord pressed on regardless. Soaring Empyrean had no choice but to pour his magic power into the deadlock as well, matching her frenzy for frenzy.
But Soaring Empyrean's cultivation was superior, after all.
In the end, their back-and-forth saw him gain the edge. Covered Lamp Fire kept plummeting, bit by bit, toward the Netherworld's gates.
Yet he paid a price for it.
Down below, the Heavy Light Dao Calamity he'd refined into an avatar was already burning away. He'd even sacrificed his fruition treasure, Shared Fate and Exchanged Luck Register Scripture, in full. Which meant that if he failed to claim Covered Lamp Fire after this battle, there'd be no second shot.
Over all these years, Heavy Light alone had ever attained Covered Lamp Fire.
Without that Dao Calamity as a conduit, Covered Lamp Fire wouldn't glance his way again. Dragging it into the Netherworld? The difficulty would explode several-fold.
At the very least, not until the millennial great calamity.
'Victory or nothing!'
Soaring Empyrean's gaze turned frigid. He'd bet everything he had. Clear Clarity Flying Snow True Lord's interference changed nothing.
But at the same moment—
'That bastard...'
Lu Yang gripped Calamity Wave, face grim. What galled him most was that he could only curse inwardly, not daring to voice it.
'Calamity Wave's compromised, obviously. Tied to a True Lord—how could it lack a backdoor? Might not even be the only one. Unless I purge it with Book of a Hundred Lives, I won't touch it again. God knows if it'll turn on me next swing.'
This had zilch to do with Calamity Wave's own sword spirit will.
Soaring Empyrean's backdoor transcended the semi-true treasure's limits entirely. Sword spirit or no, resistance was impossible.
With that thought, Lu Yang looked up.
Suo Huan was gone now, soul scattered to the winds. True Lords were scrapping over the blessed land and metal nature—no one spared a glance for a nobody like him.
Yes, a nobody.
Those were Suo Huan's parting words. That sigh still rang in Lu Yang's ears:
"We small fries can only drift with the current."
"Right move, and you might ride the wave up."
"Wrong one, and you're fish food at the seabed."
That final admonition came in a serene tone.
"Fellow Daoist, take my advice: quit while you're ahead. You can't beat those big shots up there. Escaping death this once? Live out your days in peace."
"Peak Foundation Establishment, five lifetimes' span. Over a millennium—that's not bad."
"Don't throw it away like I did..."
Had he found release? Lu Yang didn't buy it. Numbness, despair—the bitter sea unfordable. Seeking metal nature? Just pie in the sky.
But after a silent beat, Lu Yang grinned.
Unfordable bitter sea? Defiant heaven's will?
'Fellow Daoist Suo Huan—in the next life, I'll ferry you across!'
The next instant, Lu Yang eyed the clashing Soaring Empyrean and Clear Clarity Flying Snow True Lord. He flipped the sword horizontal...
...and laid the edge against his own throat.
"Hm!?"
In the same heartbeat, Soaring Empyrean sensed it. He whipped around toward Lu Yang.
His ritual to reel in Covered Lamp Fire hinged on "aiding Lu Yang to overturn certain doom." All that karma centered on Lu Yang.
But—
'What if I die?'
Lu Yang's mind cleared utterly. His death meant "reversal failed." Ritual collapse. Covered Lamp Fire vanishes anew!
The last thing Soaring Empyrean wanted. After all that investment—how could it end in fiasco?
Thus, a voice soon wafted down:
"Young friend, what do you want?"
Soaring Empyrean's tone stayed steady. Lu Yang had clocked the board, jacking up terms. Straight to brass tacks, then.
"I want some of Suo Huan's metal nature. Amount irrelevant."
Lu Yang matched his calm, cool as ice.
"Good!"
No haggling. Soaring Empyrean nodded at once. While pinning Clear Clarity Flying Snow True Lord, he diverted focus to snag a wisp of metal nature.
Such a pittance? The True Lords let it slide. Job done, Soaring Empyrean ignored Lu Yang, gaze shifting back. No way the kid suicides—just profiteering in chaos. Demand met, he'd fold.
Hell, he admired the opportunism.
'Schemer with guts and guile. Prime material. Big things ahead.'
Soaring Empyrean mulled it over. How best to play this pawn long-term? Strictly speaking, he'd just saved the kid's skin.
A wisp of metal nature? Peanuts. Repaid in spades later.
Life-debt karma? He'd milk Lu Yang forever!
But the next second—
"Pfft!"
Soaring Empyrean, gaze freshly averted, froze. His unflappable mask cracked with rare shock-fury.
He turned.
Lu Yang grinned back, cold and vicious.
Suo Huan's metal wisp already pocketed. Calamity Wave slashed his throat clean...
...severing his karma too!
"Boom!"
In the same breath, the plummeting Covered Lamp Fire's glow winked out. It vanished, slipping Soaring Empyrean's grasp entirely!
"Die!!!"
For the first time, Soaring Empyrean's roar thundered with raw rage across the world. Dread pressure jolted even True Lords.
But Lu Yang feared nothing. Head high to the heavens, he flipped them the bird.
Craving Covered Lamp Fire?
Craving Everflowing Waters?
Craving Dao Lordship?
"Eat shit!"
No more hiding, no mutter—just a bellowed curse. Then, amid a colossal blast, he detonated without mercy!
"Book of a Hundred Lives!"