Chapter 355 : Which Fellow of the Saint Sect Is This?

Chapter 355: Which Fellow of the Saint Sect Is This?

Jiangbei, Skull Mountain Market.

Lü Yang was still using his Dharma body to travel, yet remained cautious, fully restraining all his aura. At a glance, one would only think he was a down-and-out rogue cultivator.

‘Better safe than sorry.’

‘If I remember correctly, at this point in time, Skull Mountain was being watched by many True Persons of the Saint Sect—it wasn't just that True Person of Yinshan!’

This was because the Divine Martial Sect of the Northern Frontier had a cultivator in the late Foundation Establishment Realm.

If it weren't for a True Person seated in their sect, the Divine Martial Sect couldn't have become the sole hegemon of the Northern Frontier, let alone covet the Witch Ghost Secret Realm within Skull Mountain.

However, during the battle at Skull Mountain, the True Person of Yinshan lured out the Witch Ghost Secret Realm, and at the same time, baited out several True Persons of the Divine Martial Sect. As a result, the Sect Master of the Divine Martial Sect—their only True Person—was besieged and killed by various True Persons of the Saint Sect. Only a few early Foundation Establishment cultivators escaped in disgrace, setting the countdown to their sect's annihilation.

‘In other words, there must be a True Person watching this place!’

Strictly speaking, Lü Yang's true body was actually weaker than his avatar. Even with【Holder of Dharma】, he was only at the peak of the mid Foundation Establishment stage—not a match for a True Person.

So he harbored no arrogance at all.

“Senior Brother Zhao.”

Upon entering the market, Lü Yang swept his divine sense and indeed spotted a familiar figure—Zhao Xuhe, who owed him a huge amount of contribution points in several past lifetimes.

‘Sure enough, he has practiced the 『Nine Transforming Dragon Art』.’

Lü Yang’s gaze flickered slightly. At this moment, Zhao Xuhe's cultivation had already reached the peak of Qi Refining. If nothing went wrong, he should be aiming for Foundation Establishment in the next few years.

‘That means Arhat Fulong is about to appear too?’

Lü Yang grinned.

The next second, as if suddenly recalling something, he channeled his divine sense into the Ten Thousand Spirits Banner and found the Peak Master of Mending Heaven Peak, who he had previously refined into a banner spirit.

“I ask you, are you already preparing for the breakthrough to the late stage?”

“Replying to Master, yes.”

Upon hearing this, Lü Yang’s eyes lit up and he whispered, “Since that's the case, you should've already secretly obtained a strand of【Xin Metal】, right?”

He had previously overlooked this matter. After all, in the previous timeline, the Peak Master of Mending Heaven Peak didn’t attempt a breakthrough until a century later. But upon seeing Zhao Xuhe, Lü Yang suddenly realized—the Peak Master might have long had the resources to reach the late stage!

The reason he hadn't attempted the breakthrough likely stemmed from pure fear of the Heavenly Tribulation!

Otherwise, why would he have the leisure to groom Zhao Xuhe? Finding the Heavenly Stars and Earth Fiends should be the priority—without them, everything was just empty talk.

Of course, this was merely Lü Yang’s speculation.

Thus, he still needed confirmation from the Peak Master.

...

Moments later, Lü Yang withdrew his divine sense from the Ten Thousand Spirits Banner, his expression shifting between gloom and brightness.

The good news was that the Peak Master indeed had a lead on a strand of【Xin Metal】. The bad news—it wasn’t in his possession.

“... Suheng Palace?”

Lü Yang’s brows gradually furrowed.

This was a marvel located in Jiangbei, much like the【Kingdom of Qing】, but it hadn’t been conquered by the Dao Court—instead, it had been seized by Pure Land.

And according to the Peak Master, the【Xin Metal】was inside this marvel.

Due to its ties to Pure Land, the Peak Master had gotten close to Arhat Fulong. Judging from the outcome in the previous life, he had indeed succeeded.

This suggested that obtaining the【Xin Metal】from Suheng Palace depended heavily on Arhat Fulong.

‘But... Pure Land, huh.’

Lü Yang felt a headache coming on. Ever since that near-death scare at sea by the World-Honored One, his attitude toward Pure Land Buddhist cultivators could be summed up in one line:

‘They can be killed, they can be mocked, but never messed with in complicated ways!’

So even with the【Puppet Strings】in this life, Lü Yang had never considered sending a clone into Pure Land to uncover its secrets.

After all, no one could predict what might happen once a clone joined Pure Land and became a Buddhist cultivator. While【Puppet Strings】could deceive Golden Core cultivators, could it really fool a Dao Lord? If the World-Honored One descended and discovered someone pulling strings behind his host...

Wouldn’t that be the end?

Although this was merely Lü Yang’s worry, and it was also possible that his talent could hide everything even from the World-Honored One, in the end—it was a gamble.

And the thing Lü Yang hated most was gambling!

‘As long as I don’t gamble, I won’t lose!’

‘Ultimately, the【Puppet Strings】is merely a talent computed from Suo Huan’s Metal attribute. Betting that it could handle the World-Honored One across two realms? That’s too optimistic.’

The same logic applied to Arhat Fulong—he was no easy mark either.

So how could Lü Yang extract intel on【Xin Metal】from him?

‘Kill him and refine him into the Ten Thousand Spirits Banner? Impossible—that’s an Arhat. If the World-Honored One senses something amiss and descends to inspect, that’s still game over!’

After all, once the World-Honored One descended, he would surely detect the embryonic Fruit of Position within the Ten Thousand Spirits Banner. Wouldn’t he laugh in glee?

Those were actual Fruits of Position in there!

Although Lü Yang had refined some Buddhist cultivators into the banner before, they were all in the Qi Refining stage—not even considered full-fledged people—so it hadn’t alarmed the World-Honored One.

But Foundation Establishment? That was already a True Person.

Especially in these times when True Sovereigns were hiding, the World-Honored One was very likely to focus his attention on Foundation Establishment cultivators!

As for sending the Peak Master and Chen Xin'an to work together using soul-extracting techniques? That was even more unreliable. What if halfway through, they triggered the World-Honored One?

“Ugh...”

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At this thought, Lü Yang couldn’t help but slap his head and curse inwardly: ‘The World-Honored One really has no shame. A Nascent Soul Dao Lord actually sets up a fishing pond scheme!’

But after much thought, he still made a decision:

‘No matter what, capture him first!’

‘Worst case, suppress him and slowly break him down. As long as I avoid alarming the World-Honored One, I refuse to believe that bald donkey is that tough!’

With that resolution, Lü Yang sprang into action.

He first found Zhao Xuhe and handed him the Foundation Establishment spirit items prepared by the Peak Master, then used【Puppet Strings】to control him into charging at the Foundation Establishment bottleneck.

“Rumble—!”

In an instant, half the Skull Mountain Market was shaken.

Lü Yang had pulled this trick in his past two lifetimes and was familiar with the process. With his higher cultivation now, it was even more seamless.

Soon, the sound of melodious Buddhist chanting echoed within Skull Mountain:

“Amitabha!”

A flash of Buddha-light parted the void, and Arhat Fulong stepped out of it with a compassionate smile: “Benefactor, you and this humble monk are destined to meet.”

Almost simultaneously, several gazes fell from the void.

As Lü Yang had expected, many True Persons of the Saint Sect had gathered here, all waiting for the Divine Martial Sect’s Foundation Establishment disciple to take the bait so they could pounce.

“A bald monk from Pure Land?”

“What’s he doing here?”

A Saint Sect True Person made a quick calculation and suddenly understood: “It’s the『Nine Transforming Dragon Art』. It was admitted to the Sea of Clouds with Mending Heaven’s approval.”

“Should we stop it?”

“Forget it. If we interfere and startle the Divine Martial Sect, we might lose our prey. It’s just a Qi Refining disciple anyway...”

However, at that moment—

“Shwaa—!”

Suddenly, a brilliant ray of light swept out and struck Arhat Fulong. The latter let out a cry and was instantly captured without resistance.

In an instant, silence fell across the land.

The gathered Saint Sect True Persons were all seasoned veterans and immediately realized: someone had laid a trap specifically to capture Arhat Fulong!

And judging from the ease of the capture, the assailant’s cultivation was at least peak mid Foundation Establishment!

To use a Qi Refining disciple as bait, launch a surprise attack on a mid-stage Foundation Establishment, and capture an Arhat so cleanly—clearly this wasn’t a first-time operation.

Realizing this, the True Persons all shared a knowing smile:

‘Which fellow of the Saint Sect is this?’