Just a Useful Pawn in the Stain Sect

Chapter 102: Chapter 102: Switching the Heir

Lü Yang was quite confident in Zhao Xuhe.

’Senior Brother Zhao has accumulated Merit over three lifetimes and possesses abundant Fortune. He even attempted to reach Foundation Establishment once before without my help. With my assistance, his chances should be much higher now.’

It was only a matter of time.

Lü Yang withdrew his gaze, turned, and returned to his Cave Mansion. Then, he summoned his Avatar Guardian, Su Nu, and began to cultivate the two legendary techniques, using her Foundation Establishment Position.

Ten days later, on a dark and windy night.

”Junior Brother Lü, are you there?”

Liu Xin had come knocking.

Lü Yang answered and opened the Cave Mansion, grinning at Liu Xin. ”You’re here. I’ve been waiting for you for a long time, Senior Brother. Thanks for going through the trouble of making a delivery from so far away in the middle of the night.”

Liu Xin was taken aback. ”....Deliver what?”

Because he had done this in the life before last, Lü Yang’s movements were perfectly practiced. Before Liu Xin could even finish his sentence, Lü Yang thrust out a massive Qi Hand.

Liu Xin, who had been full of ambition and was just about to refine this newly promoted disciple to break through to the Late-phase of Qi Refining, didn’t even have time to react. He was seized by Lü Yang’s Qi Hand and instantly reduced into dust, leaving only a Myriad-Soul Banner to fall to the ground with a CLANG.

Seeing this, Lü Yang couldn’t help but feel a little nostalgic.

Today, the Senior Brother Liu who had once filled him with helpless resentment had become a reliable loot piñata that he visited in almost every life.

After all, the Primal Qi Divine Talisman was just too useful.

’Speaking of obscuring karmic links, I almost forgot... The Yun Family Ancestor, that reincarnated Foundation Establishment cultivator, seems to have an even more powerful Divination Artifact!’

In his last life, he had left too early and missed it.

This life would be different. Lü Yang planned to replicate his cultivation path from the life before last and carefully craft the persona of an exemplary unholy disciple within the Stain Sect.

’The Yun Ancestor couldn’t be going to the Simulation Realm just for me. He’s most likely after something in the Secret Realm itself. That Celestial Secret Treasure in his hands can even deceive a Golden-Core Perfected Lord. If I get there first and set up an ambush to obtain that treasure, it will definitely be a great boon for my future cultivation!’

Besides, he hadn’t forgotten how the Yun Family Ancestor had plotted against him in the Secret Realm back then. If he hadn’t been a step ahead, his cultivation would have been ruined, and he likely would have died there.

If he let this go, his Dao Heart would become unstable!

Thinking of this, Lü Yang silently circled the Yun Family Ancestor’s name in the little black book he kept in his heart, marking him as one of this life’s primary targets.

....

Inside the Cave Mansion, Lü Yang sat cross-legged on a meditation mat.

Before him lay Liu Xin’s Myriad-Soul Banner. It was pure white, a world apart from the purplish-black Myriad-Soul Banner in Lü Yang’s Dantian.

The next moment, Lü Yang activated his Magical Power.

Liu Xin’s Myriad-Soul Banner trembled slightly, and Chen Xin’an immediately stepped out from within it. He first glanced around his surroundings, then looked at Lü Yang with a face full of astonishment.

Immediately after, Lü Yang activated his own Myriad-Soul Banner. Soon, the Banner Spirit, Chen Xin’an, also emerged, and he and the original Chen Xin’an stared at each other in astonishment.

”Who are you!”

”You’re me?”

The two spoke almost the exact same words at the same time. The difference was that the original Chen Xin’an was more shocked, while the Banner Spirit, Chen Xin’an, seemed to be merely imitating him.

Since he planned to have the Banner Spirit Chen Xin’an be the mole, Lü Yang naturally had to ensure his loyalty. Thus, he subjected the Banner Spirit to an additional process, placing numerous Restrictions on him just as he had with Su Nu. This ensured the spirit could not betray him and that he could be annihilated with a single thought.

”Do it.”

The next moment, with a wave of Lü Yang’s hand, the Banner Spirit Chen Xin’an immediately followed the command. Without a hint of mercy, he pointed a finger, piercing through the Soul of his original self.

Even on the verge of death, the original Chen Xin’an was still in a daze.

’Who killed me?’

’And who am I?’

With these deep questions, his Soul suddenly dispersed. His karmic links, however, were inherited by the Banner Spirit, Chen Xin’an, adding a touch of Spirituality to the latter’s expression.

”From now on, you are the real Chen Xin’an!”

Looking at the respectful expression on the Banner Spirit’s face, Lü Yang nodded in satisfaction. He then embedded the Primal Qi Divine Talisman into its body.

The Divine Talisman contained a strand of his Divine Sense. Under the talisman’s protection, the spirit wouldn’t be discovered by a Foundation-Stage Cultivator. This would allow Lü Yang to monitor the Master of Heaven Mending Peak through the Banner Spirit and even take control of its body if necessary. At the same time, it would also help the Banner Spirit conceal its own karmic links.

After finishing all this, Lü Yang finally sent it away.

As for the second Myriad-Soul Banner, Lü Yang refined it into his own Myriad-Soul Banner to expand the space within it.

....

Atop Heaven Mending Peak, inside a tea pavilion.

The Master of Heaven Mending Peak was in no good mood. After all, the Panlong Inheritance, which he had already considered to be in his grasp, had suddenly flown away like a cooked duck.

’What a pity. Although that inheritance concerns the West and cannot be learned lightly, I created a technique called the Sixfold Phoenix Nirvana specifically for my daughter to cultivate, which would have allowed her to reap its benefits while avoiding the risks. But now the inheritance is gone, and she has lost a great opportunity. I don’t know when she’ll be able to attempt to reach the Foundation Establishment Position...’

At this thought, the Master of Heaven Mending Peak sighed again.

’If only my son were still here...’

Chen Xin’an, the biological son of the Master of Heaven Mending Peak and also his most prized disciple, had managed to cultivate a Legendary Technique at a young age, only lacking the final step to reach Perfection.

’I had planned that once he had broken through to the Final Phase of Qi Refining, cultivated Third-Grade Replenishing Celestial Qi, and perfected his Legendary Technique, I would have found him a Foundation Establishment helper. He would have had a thirty-percent chance of reaching Foundation Establishment immediately.

And if he had been willing to wait for the Great War of Righteous and Evil sixty years later, that chance would have increased by another ten percent.’

’My son, Xin’an, had the potential to reach Foundation Establishment!’

’But Heaven is jealous of talent. He went missing during a treasure hunt, and no matter how I tried to divine his karmic links, I couldn’t find him. I could only vaguely sense that he had not yet truly perished.’

”Sigh...”

The Master of Heaven Mending Peak sighed once more. Suddenly, a ripple of karmic links appeared. He snapped his head up, instinctively channeling his Divine Sense to look at the Great Net of Karma Links.

”This is... Xin’an’s karmic link!?”

The next second, the Master of Heaven Mending Peak shot up to his feet. His immense Divine Sense followed the Great Net of Karma Links back to its source, finally landing on a Cave Mansion on Heaven Mending Peak.

Inside the empty Cave Mansion, a weak Soul floated in the air, on the verge of dissipating.

Its consciousness was fading, and it wouldn’t have been surprising if it had scattered completely in the next second. Only a remnant of a thought echoed, as if in a final, desperate struggle:

”Father... forgive me...”

RUMBLE!

The Master of Heaven Mending Peak instantly teleported through the void and into the Cave Mansion. His boundless Magical Power forcibly stabilized the dissipating Soul, actually managing to gather it back together!

And behind the Master of Heaven Mending Peak, the phantom of a human-faced fish appeared.

[Chiru Fish]!

This Earthly Branch was of the Shen Metal, and it possessed the wonders of Gui Water.

Although Gui Water faces a dead end in Shen Metal, Shen Metal contains hidden Geng Metal, which in turn can revive Gui Water. Thus, its symbolic meaning is ”finding life in a place of death.”

This was why, in Lü Yang’s previous life, the Master of Heaven Mending Peak had been confident he could reassemble Chen Xin’an’s Soul even if it had truly scattered, as long as it happened before his very eyes. This confidence was based on the Ability. No matter how fatal the injury, the Chiru Fish could turn peril into safety.

And with the Master of Heaven Mending Peak’s Cultivation at the Mid-phase of Foundation Establishment, using the Chiru Fish on a mere Qi Refining Soul like Chen Xin’an’s made bringing him back a simple matter!