Just a Useful Pawn in the Stain Sect

Chapter 577: Chapter 577: Mid-phase Combat

RUMBLE!

Above the dome of the sky, thunder rolled as boundless, illusionary colors arranged themselves in an array. It resonated with the stars above and connected with the Lay Lines below, projecting a vast, endless vision of light and shadow.

Celestial Pillar Profound Grotto Heaven!

Lü Yang didn’t hold back. He immediately unfurled his Grotto Heaven, stretching it across the sky. He himself sat enthroned in its center, upon a Divine Mountain that seemed to fill the world.

Faced with this scene, Bao Lian Hidden Buddha charged into the Grotto Heaven without hesitation, with the Three Ministers of the Daoist Court following close behind. This wasn’t recklessness. It was a deliberate choice made only after Bao Lian Hidden Buddha had carefully weighed the difference in strength between their side and the enemy.

Because in Combat between Perfected Lords, the key to victory or defeat lies solely in the Grotto Heaven.

For a Perfected Lord, a damaged Grotto Heaven meant defeat, and a destroyed Grotto Heaven meant death. All of their Abilities and Profound Mysteries were dependent on their Grotto Heaven.

Without a doubt, the Grotto Heaven was a Perfected Lord’s vital weakness.

On the other hand, the Grotto Heaven was also a Perfected Lord’s greatest strength. It was a pocket world, sealed off from the universe and operating under its own laws, making it nearly impregnable from the outside.

This was evident from the past battle between World Purger Fei Xue and True Monarch Chengtian Zhengde. One was a Middle Stage of Golden Core cultivator, hailed as the greatest in Combat for five thousand years, while the other was one of the weaker Perfected Lords. Even so, it still took World Purger Fei Xue a considerable amount of time to shatter his opponent’s Grotto Heaven.

However, the Grotto Heaven itself was not without its flaws.

Although it was extremely difficult for an external force to destroy a Grotto Heaven from the outside in, it was far more vulnerable from the inside out. It was no longer an impenetrable fortress.

Of course, there were risks.

Once inside, one was essentially on the opponent’s home turf. The enemy would be strengthened while you were weakened, creating a very real danger of being killed.

Therefore, entering another’s Grotto Heaven to fight was a risky move even for a Perfected Lord.

The only reason Bao Lian Hidden Buddha dared to do so was that there were four of them. It was a case of crushing an egg with a mountain; she was confident that Lü Yang would have no chance to fight back.

Soon, however, she changed her mind.

The moment the four of them stepped into the Celestial Pillar Profound Grotto Heaven, Lü Yang made his move. With a solemn expression, the Talisman on his brow suddenly expanded.

Engraving Laws!

Flames enveloped Lü Yang, obscuring his features just like Ang Xiao. All that remained was a figure of light walking between Heaven and Earth, who solemnly declared:

”Let there be light!”

In an instant, the entire Celestial Pillar Profound Grotto Heaven seemed to ignite. Every corner began to burn, releasing endless light. The rays then intertwined and connected, finally forming a magnificent Array Map that began to operate, pressing down on all four intruders.

Seeing this, Bao Lian Hidden Buddha immediately performed a finger technique.

’Hidden Gold Chamber!’

A brilliant golden light flared, carrying a powerful intent of demotion and suppression. It instantly shattered the part of the Array Map around her, transforming into a dazzling, splendid light.

She was trying to demote Lü Yang!

Had any other Early Stage of Golden Core Perfected Lord been here, their Fruit Position Profound Mysterious would have been instantly demoted to Fruit Position Imagery, and their Imagery would have been reduced to nothingness!

Yet, faced with this light of demotion that would make any other Perfected Lord pale, Lü Yang simply stood with his hands behind his back and chuckled, showing no intention of blocking it.

A mere Ordinary Fruit, trying to demote a Supreme Venerable?

”Insolent!”

Lü Yang chided lightly. With a grasping motion of his hand, the surging splendid light within the Grotto Heaven converged, forging a sky-blotting hand that slammed down with a deafening RUMBLE!

In that instant, everything within the Grotto Heaven moved!

As far as the eye could see, stars shifted and the very landscape bowed. It was as if the great hand Lü Yang had gathered was moving Heaven and Earth itself, joining him in suppressing his foes!

The sheer mighty power contained in this single palm strike, had it landed in the current world instead of this Grotto Heaven, would have undoubtedly shattered the continent and killed trillions, even with Empress Xiao protecting the West. And unless one could instantly escape the hand’s massive coverage, there was no choice but to face it head-on.

But what was more insidious was—

’Deprive!’

As the palm fell, the composed expression on Bao Lian Hidden Buddha’s pretty face changed slightly. She discovered that her Hidden Gold Chamber was actually being drained away!

’He can even take from me?’

Not only that, but the stolen Hidden Gold Chamber was now being used against her, demoting her own Position and allowing Lü Yang to plunder even more of her Hidden Gold Chamber with ease...

’What kind of joke is this!’

In just a single moment, Bao Lian Hidden Buddha’s expression shifted several times. For the first time, she felt the oppressive pressure of an Emperor Fruit.

What was an Emperor Fruit?

’His Position is inherently a level above mine. His Fruit Position Imagery can affect my Fruit Position Profound Mysterious. If he were to use his own Fruit Position Profound Mysterious, wouldn’t it be even more outrageous?’

That said, Bao Lian Hidden Buddha did not panic. The gap between the Middle Stage of Golden Core and the Early Stage of Golden Core was far more than just having an unfalling Grotto Heaven and infinite Resurrection. Even among those in the Early Stage, an insurmountable chasm existed between the strong and the weak.

”Amitabha!”

Bao Lian Hidden Buddha chanted the Buddha’s Name. At the same time, she gently pinched her slender, jade-like fingers together, and a three-foot-long sliver of golden light appeared at her fingertips.

The golden light slowly bloomed at its tip.

Immediately, the golden light transformed into a Golden Lotus Jade Cup, translucent as glass. Bao Lian Hidden Buddha sent it flying into the air, where it descended towards Lü Yang.

And as the Golden Lotus Jade Cup touched the sky-blotting hand condensed by Lü Yang, there was no sound at all. Like a clay ox entering the sea, the entire hand—and even the Deprive imagery Lü Yang had infused within it—was completely swallowed by the Golden Lotus Jade Cup!

Then, the jade cup drifted down.

The once translucent jade cup had become murky and black after swallowing Lü Yang’s sky-blotting hand, losing its former divine quality.

But regardless, it had worked.

’Incredible...’

Lü Yang could clearly sense that a part of his Deprive Divine Effect had fallen into a state of dormancy along with the Golden Lotus Jade Cup. He couldn’t activate it no matter how he tried.

What kind of technique was this?

Lü Yang performed a finger divination and his eyebrows rose slightly. ”This thing is called the Treasure Lotus Cup, a True Treasure refined from the Fruit of Hairpin-Brace Metal?”

All this time, Lü Yang hadn’t really thought much of True Treasures. After all, the only ones he had seen so far were True Monarch Chengtian Zhengde’s Heaven-Receiving Ascending Profound Mysterious Realm Observation Sword and the Old Dragon Monarch’s Sea Commanding Conch. It wasn’t that they were useless, but their utility was rather limited.

Now, however, Lü Yang’s opinion had changed.

’The reason the Heaven-Receiving Ascending Profound Mysterious Realm Observation Sword wasn’t very useful was that it was refined by True Monarch Chengtian Zhengde. His methods were lacking.’

’As for the Sea Commanding Conch, it wasn’t in the Old Dragon Monarch’s hands!’

On second thought, the Sea Commanding Conch wasn’t completely useless. He had relied on it to block that sword strike from Ang Xiao back then.

’True Treasures are the real manifestation of a Perfected Lord’s Abilities!’

’If Fruit Position Imagery and Fruit Position Profound Mysterious are the innate resources of a Fruit, then a True Treasure is the tool used to wield those resources and unleash their power.’

However, refining a True Treasure was not easy.

It required not only sufficient talent, but also time for polishing.

A Perfected Lord would, in most cases, only have two or three True Treasures. If their enlightenment and aptitude were poorer, they might only ever have a single one in their entire life.

’So that’s why the True Body Tathagata didn’t use any more powerful techniques back then. It had just descended into the world and had no Fruit to support it, so it couldn’t possibly refine a True Treasure. As for the Dragon and Snake Coiling Shadow Bodhisattva... just an Outer Dao practitioner. A being without even a Fruit Position Profound Mysterious has no way to refine a True Treasure at all.’

Just as Lü Yang was divining the karmic links and coming to this realization...

Bao Lian Hidden Buddha didn’t pause for a moment. She reached a slender, jade-like hand behind her head and gently removed a hairpin from her temple.

In an instant, her long black hair was freed from its bonds, cascading down like a waterfall.

A sweet fragrance filled the air, one that would cause anyone who smelled it to involuntarily become entranced, their very Divine Soul turned upside down. It was clearly a Charm Art refined to the extreme.

Lü Yang, however, remained unmoved.

The next second, the hairpin removed by Bao Lian Hidden Buddha shot up as a streak of golden light, arriving between Lü Yang’s eyebrows in the blink of an eye!

BOOM!