Just a Useful Pawn in the Stain Sect

Chapter 250: Chapter 250: Shooting the Arrow, Then Drawing the Target

Seeing Lü Yang struggle to suppress his obvious arousal, Master Miaoyin maintained her smile while sneering inwardly.

’Heh, men!’

The next second, she took a step back. The flirtatious woman from a moment ago was gone, replaced by her usual elegant, dignified grace.

She knew exactly how men like this thought. Throwing oneself at a man was the crudest way to seduce him. The truly effective method was to play hard to get. Men always wanted what they couldn’t have. Only by stringing him along, by pulling him back and forth, could she completely control him.

”So, Daoist, are you willing to talk?”

Master Miaoyin’s tone was gentle, as if her earlier provocative words had been an unintentional slip and she hadn’t meant them at all.

’Being inscrutable is what makes them itch for you!’

Just as she expected, Lü Yang’s eager restlessness became even more apparent. He spoke faster, ”...You haven’t said why you’ve sought me out, my lady.”

”I intend to travel to the Ten Thousand Martial Realm for Qi Collection to increase my Qi.”

”Unfortunately, the world Beyond the Heavens is perilous, and I have no one to protect me.”

Master Miaoyin sighed. ”In the past, my husband would assist me, but now that he has passed, I truly cannot find a trustworthy helper.”

After speaking, she looked up at Lü Yang again. Her every word and action, every frown and smile, perfectly showcased the fragility and helplessness of a recent widow hidden beneath her dignified exterior. Combined with her special status as the wife of his former superior, it was enough to move any man’s heart.

Lü Yang seemed to be no exception.

”I’ll do it!”

He slapped his chest and laughed heartily. ”As it happens, I was also planning to go Beyond the Heavens for Qi Collection. We can travel together and watch each other’s backs.”

”Thank you, Daoist!”

Upon hearing this, Master Miaoyin showed a hint of being touched. A charming blush appeared on her delicate, slightly pale face.

”For this trip, I have invited only you, Daoist... I hope you will take pity on me.”

With that, Master Miaoyin curtsied. Her words were suggestive, yet her tone was perfectly proper, as if there was no hidden meaning at all.

Lü Yang’s expression grew even more restless.

But Master Miaoyin didn’t linger. Seeing his reaction, she summoned a Flying Light and departed in a trail of Fragrant Wind, giving Lü Yang no chance to speak again.

”...”

After watching Master Miaoyin leave, Lü Yang finally dropped his expression. Progenitor Tingyou appeared silently behind him, looking at him with a hint of worry.

”Yuan Tu, you haven’t actually fallen for her, have you?”

”You jest, Progenitor.”

Lü Yang turned around. The face that had been a mask of lust a moment ago was now completely cold. His eyes were calm as he uttered a single, faint sentence:

”She wants to harm me!”

After a moment of thought, Lü Yang added, ”To be precise, that woman must be colluding with someone to set a trap for me!”

”...Huh?”

Progenitor Tingyou was stunned. ’I wanted you to be careful around this woman and not be seduced by her beauty,’ he thought, ’but isn’t this a bit extreme?’

”Surely not?”

”Why not?” Lü Yang glanced at Progenitor Tingyou and said in a low voice, ”Progenitor, this is the Saint Sect! This sort of thing isn’t strange at all!”

’Just the way of the Saint Sect!’

Progenitor Tingyou wanted to argue, but on second thought, since this was the Saint Sect, it wasn’t impossible. He could only change the subject. ”What proof do you have?”

”The proof is that she came to me!”

Lü Yang’s expression was calm as he analyzed the situation. ”Why would she seek me out? Just because she mistakenly thinks I’m a lecher and can be used?”

Lü Yang saw the ’What other reason could there be?’ look on Progenitor Tingyou’s face and immediately guessed his thoughts. He couldn’t help but say, ”Progenitor, you know me.”

”Am I really the type to be swayed by a woman’s charms?”

Progenitor Tingyou immediately grumbled to himself, ’It’s precisely because I know you so well that I was worried you’d let her beauty go to your head.’

Seeing his expression, Lü Yang could only explain with a helpless look. ”I can’t deny she was trying to string me along, but that’s just a standard tactic for a Saint Sect Perfected Person. It doesn’t prove anything. Looking past the surface to the reality of it, no matter what tricks she used, the fact that she came to me is what’s wrong!”

”Because she’s the one in the dominant position.”

”She has detailed information on the Ten Thousand Martial Realm. If I want to go there for Qi Collection, I’m the one who needs something from her. I’m in the weaker position.”

”In this situation, a proper Saint Sect Perfected Person would surely wait for the highest bidder to maximize their own benefit. But she came to me instead.”

”She must be after something else, and it must be something huge!”

”So huge that she thinks I would never agree to it. So huge that she, the one with the advantage, would stoop to come find me... The only possibility is that she wants to take my life!”

Progenitor Tingyou listened with a strained expression.

”This is all just your suspicion, isn’t it? Most of it is speculation. You’re drawing the target after shooting the arrow—you decided from the very beginning that she was plotting against you.”

There were many plausible explanations for Lü Yang’s questions. For example, Master Miaoyin might have lost her composure after Minor Metal’s death, or perhaps she simply wasn’t thinking that far ahead. Or maybe, because Lü Yang had spoken face-to-face with World Purger Fei Xue, she was worried he already had information on the Ten Thousand Martial Realm...

Lü Yang didn’t deny it.

After all, he had indeed started with the assumption that Master Miaoyin had a scheme against him and then worked backward to deduce her motive. But he didn’t see any problem with that.

”When dealing with a Saint Sect Perfected Person, you can never be too cautious!”

The only people he might treat casually were those like Lady Ruoxiang, whose cultivation was lower than his. But Master Miaoyin was completely different from Lady Ruoxiang.

Because she was at Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Perfection!

Besides, as Minor Metal’s former Dao Companion, there was no telling how many good things she had secretly acquired. In a fight, she was probably even more formidable than Ye Guyue.

Lü Yang would never let his guard down around someone like her.

’It’s better to believe it and be wrong than to not believe it and be sorry.’ Lü Yang thought for a moment, then stood up. ”I need to make a trip to the Dharma Hall. I have to prepare in advance.”

...

「Sea of Clouds, Wenda Mountain.」

This was Master Miaoyin’s Dao field. In its deepest hall, she descended on her Flying Light, trailing a Fragrant Wind, and then sealed the building.

This was because the hall itself was a Superior Sentient Artifact named the Non-Liberal Court. Its Divine Effect was similar to Lü Yang’s Star Concealment; once the doors were closed, all karmic links were hidden. Anything that happened inside would be nearly impossible to trace, unless a Perfected Lord personally took action to divine it.

Inside the hall, Master Miaoyin took out a Round Mirror.

The mirror’s surface was smooth. She gently wiped a hand across it, infusing it with Mana. Instantly, a brilliant Splendid Light shone forth, revealing numerous scenes within.

Soon, a voice came from it:

”For you to contact me now, Daoist, is quite the coincidence.”

The voice was clear and bright, at first sounding like that of a scholar. As a figure gradually materialized on the mirror’s surface, it indeed revealed a handsome young man.

”Summon.”

Master Miaoyin’s tone was calm as she said faintly, ”I have found a strand of Top-Grade Qi for you.”

”...Oh?”

The young man named Summon raised an eyebrow. ”Top-Grade? That’s not a term to be used lightly. Is this Qi you speak of an object, or a person?”

”A person, of course!”

Master Miaoyin said softly, ”A hundred years of cultivation, reaching the Mid-phase of Foundation Establishment in a single lifetime, and now seeking Mid-stage Perfection. Would you not call that Top-Grade?”

As soon as she said this, Summon’s eyes narrowed. ”That is indeed Top-Grade...”