Chapter 364
Chapter 364
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: ?
Chapter Title: Slaying Dragon Centipede and Cicada
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Lu Yang sped through the southern borderlands, his aura fully unleashed. It transformed into a majestic beam of sword light that locked onto the Ten Thousand Poison Sect's mountain gate and shot straight toward Ten Thousand Gu Cavern.
The two Perfected Beings of the Ten Thousand Poison Sect trailed closely behind.
"This guy... he's really asking for death!"
Perfected Being Longwu sneered coldly.
"If he weren't a Sword Pavilion disciple and just some itinerant cultivator, strutting around so brazenly in our southern borderlands, I'd have long since refined him into a human gu!"
Perfected Being Huigu shook his head.
"Disciples from great sects, and one who's just broken through to Foundation Establishment—no wonder he's arrogant. The more arrogant he is, the better for us. I was still worrying how to lure him deeper into the southern borderlands, but now he's charging right in. Saves us the effort."
"Senior Brother is right."
Perfected Being Longwu scoffed.
"Once we trap him, we'll make sure he tastes some bitterness. Teach him that there are always greater cultivators beyond one's own!"
Before long, Lu Yang had plunged a full ten thousand li into the southern borderlands.
He glanced back. The Sword Pavilion had vanished beyond the horizon. All that filled his vision now were layer upon layer of mountains and forests, while baleful,阴森 miasma drifted across the skies overhead.
The next instant, a shrill cry pierced the air.
"Shriek!"
As the cry rang out, a dragon-headed, centipede-bodied monstrosity burst ferociously from the clouds. Its colossal form stretched for several li, and it fixed a pair of scarlet eyes on him.
Lu Yang pinched his fingers to divine, instantly discerning the creature's origins.
'【Dragon Centipede Gu】. Requires nurturing the gu seed with true dragon blood, then implanting it into one's Dao foundation for gestation. Once the gu insect breaks free of its cocoon, it becomes a natal gu insect—similar in nature to an ordinary Perfected Being's natal divine ability.'
"Fiends of the Ten Thousand Poison Sect?"
With those words, Lu Yang flicked his finger.
In that instant, rumbling sword cries echoed all around, like muffled thunder rolling through the heavens, detonating across the world.
The beasts in the forests below scattered in terrified panic.
"Where is the Sect Master of the Ten Thousand Poison Sect?"
Lu Yang maintained his incantation gesture, a strand of sword light coiling around his fingertip. He spoke indifferently.
"By order of my master, Perfected Being Demon-Quelling, I have come to investigate the disappearances of the江南 commoners. Does the Sect Master of the Ten Thousand Poison Sect have no intention of emerging to offer an explanation?"
These words left even Perfected Being Longwu laughing in fury.
"Insolent whelp!"
The Ten Thousand Poison Sect dominated the southern borderlands, its Sect Master a late-Foundation Establishment great cultivator. Demanding the Sect Master personally receive him? Perfected Being Demon-Quelling might warrant that!
A mere junior?
Who did he think he was? A late-Foundation Establishment great sword cultivator?
With that thought, Perfected Being Longwu wasted no more words. He abruptly gaped his blood盆大口 and spewed forth a mass of black qi that enveloped Lu Yang.
The Perfected Beings of the Ten Thousand Poison Sect devoured heavenly stems and earthly branches with their gu insects, refining them into divine abilities. Thus, each technique was a type of gu. The black qi spat by Perfected Being Longwu was one such—a gu called 【Soul-Disrupting Bewilderment Gu】. It appeared as a cloud of black mist but was in truth a swarm of minuscule black gu insects.
Once shrouded by the black qi, the gu would swarm inward.
No matter your protective treasures or indestructible diamond body, these gu could worm through the tiniest crevices, devour flesh and blood, then drag out the soul.
This was Perfected Being Longwu's strongest technique.
It showed that though he spoke disdainfully, he was no fool who underestimated his foe. He struck with full force, aiming to destroy Lu Yang's body outright and subdue him.
Yet Lu Yang, seeing this, showed no fear. Instead, he burst into laughter.
"Good, good, excellent."
"The Ten Thousand Poison Sect dares counterattack in response to the Sword Pavilion's inquiry, instead of explaining itself. This reveals profoundly demonic nature—far beyond ordinary devil cultivators."
He had to strike with an iron fist!
Before his words finished echoing, a sword cry rang out!
Lu Yang's sword light split in an instant—one into a hundred, a hundred into a thousand, a thousand into ten thousand. In a mere breath, it became countless thread-like wisps of minuscule sword qi!
These sword qi were so fine even divine sense struggled to detect them. They perfectly countered the black qi of the 【Soul-Disrupting Bewilderment Gu】, instantly annihilating the swarm of gu insects. Then they slashed toward Perfected Being Longwu, who let out a shriek of alarm, twisted his body, and fled in a puff of black smoke.
"Foundation Establishment mid-stage!?"
Lu Yang's strike, empowered by two sword divine abilities, could not conceal his cultivation level. The two Ten Thousand Poison Sect Perfected Beings saw through it at once.
"Oh no..."
Perfected Being Huigu, who had been lurking in hiding, inwardly cursed. They had been utterly confident, assuming Lu Yang was at most early Foundation Establishment.
Two mid-stage Foundation Establishment against one early stage.
Bullying the weak with strength—how could they lose?
But now, same realm. The situation flipped entirely. Against sword cultivators of the same realm, how could they possibly win!?
"Impossible now—retreat first..."
Perfected Being Huigu reached Perfected Being Longwu's side and raised the gu insect in his palm.
This was his natal gu, simply called 【Cicada】.
As the saying went: "Ephemeral fungi know not the waxing and waning of months; cicadas know not the seasons of spring and autumn."
As its name implied, this gu severed divine sense perception, making it hard to detect changes in the outside world.
Sacrificed by Perfected Being Huigu, it instantly plunged the heavens and earth into dim obscurity. Only he, the gu master, could see clearly, unaffected by the gu.
"Now's the moment..." Perfected Being Huigu had no intent to fight on. He prepared to whisk Perfected Being Longwu away and regroup.
But just then.
"Think you can leave?"
A cold voice drifted over. Perfected Being Huigu whipped his head around to see Lu Yang with eyes tightly shut, a sword of radiant, multicolored霞光 in hand.
【Minghe Eternal World Guarding Uprightness Grasping Gold Sword】!
This sword was born from his Dao foundation—both his law sword and his divine ability!
"【Intent Trap】!"
The next instant, Perfected Being Huigu realized he was still standing beside Perfected Being Longwu.
The 【Cicada】 in his hand remained unsacrificed.
Everything that had just happened felt like mere illusion, as if it had never occurred.
'What the hell!?'
Perfected Being Huigu froze in place. In response came Lu Yang's faint smile.
This was the wonder of his natal divine ability's 【Intent Trap】. From the moment Perfected Being Huigu and Perfected Being Longwu appeared, he had drawn them into his divine ability.
Thereafter, anything detrimental to him turned to illusory void. Only what benefited him became true reality!
'That said, with my magic power, I probably can't use 【Intent Trap】 too many times...'
To test his own prowess, Lu Yang hadn't directly assumed the mantle of a great Perfected Being for a crushing victory.
Thus, against Perfected Being Longwu and Perfected Being Huigu, though he held every advantage, if they fled with all their might, stopping them would still take effort.
Fortunately, he had another method.
'【Fate-Inspecting Lottery】!'
With a thought from Lu Yang, his vast destiny qi manifested before him as three fate lots.
【Event: Slaying Perfected Being Longwu and Perfected Being Huigu】
【Great Auspicious: Your strength holds an overwhelming advantage. You slay them effortlessly.】
【Lesser Auspicious: Though your foes excel at escape, you expend some effort and still slay them.】
【Barely Auspicious: Your foes are lucky and adept at fleeing. You're not at your best, the battle drags on. In furious shame, you directly assume the great Perfected Being mantle and slap them to death.】
'Strength gap too vast—hard to draw an ill lot...'
With a thought, Lu Yang held the 【Great Auspicious】 lot.
This outcome was already in his grasp!
Combined with 【Intent Trap】, he directly manifested this certain victory as reality!
One sword drawn—not yet struck, but when it did, death was inevitable!
"Boom!"
The next instant, Lu Yang drew his sword. The resplendent sword light, as if divinely aided, flashed across Perfected Being Huigu and Perfected Being Longwu beside him before the former could sacrifice his gu.
Even at this moment, Perfected Being Huigu and Perfected Being Longwu hadn't fully comprehended.
In the end, they reached up to touch their cheeks.
'Is my head still there?'
But their hands grasped empty air.
Their heads were gone.
The sword light had been too swift—they were already dead, souls extinguished, yet their consciousness hadn't caught up.
But in the end, it was water without a source.
"Clang!"
The sword returned to its sheath.
Then came a massive explosion. The two headless dharma bodies detonated, dissolving into a vast tide of spiritual energy!