Chapter 116: Chapter 116: A Captive

Guang Ming was something of an expert when it came to saving his own skin.

As soon as Guang Hui and Lü Yang had met—and Lü Yang, instead of dodging, had met the attack head-on—he had keenly sensed that something was amiss.

Unfortunately, the Talisman of Bounding could only be used once in a short period.

Besides, with his fellow disciple Guang Hui, who knew him inside and out, present, he wouldn’t have had the chance to use the Talisman of Bounding to flee mid-battle anyway.

So when Guang Hui summoned all the Monks and manifested the Dragon Elephant Vajra, Guang Ming didn’t join in. Instead, under the cover of the Buddha Light, he decisively burrowed into the ground and fled, using Guang Hui and the others as a shield just as he had before… It was an undeniably effective move.

He had almost managed to escape with his life yet again.

This time, however, his escape was keenly spotted by someone who had been watching the whole time, searching for a chance to intervene and prove his own worth.

Qin Tianhe!

As a Direct Disciple of the Stain Sect, Qin Tianhe also cultivated a Legendary Technique. Coupled with the Marvelous Treasure, the Void-piercing Shuttle, he was by no means weak.

After all, he had previously managed to fight his way out when surrounded by Guang Ming and a dozen other Monks. He only seemed weak in comparison to Lü Yang. Qin Tianhe understood this himself, which was why he was so eager to prove his value and curry favor with the powerful cultivator.

Thus, Guang Ming hadn’t gotten far before Qin Tianhe caught up and dragged him back.

Now, with no other options, Guang Ming could only beg for his life. “Don’t kill me! I can serve the Demon… I mean, the Stain Sect!”

“You want to surrender?”

Lü Yang raised an eyebrow, a hint of surprise on his face. “The Perfected Lords are overseeing this battle, and you dare to surrender?”

This Battle for the Dao was being personally supervised by three Perfected Lords. Although they wouldn’t interfere, how could anything that happened escape their notice?

Who would dare surrender under such circumstances?

In the Stain Sect, if you dared to surrender and survived, a Perfected Lord would use your physical body to light a Celestial Lantern. If you died, your Soul would be used to light a Soul Lamp.

You could forget about reincarnation!

“Upper Cultivator, you may not be aware… my Pure Land has its own rules. You can’t generalize your sect to ours.”

Guang Ming lowered his voice, speaking cautiously. “For us, surrendering is no big deal. As long as we survive, we won’t be blamed.”

“Oh?”

Lü Yang’s eyebrow twitched slightly. A half-smile played on his lips. “Then what if I asked you to go back as a spy and help me deal with the remaining Monks from the Pure Land? Would you still be willing?”

“Uh, well…”

Guang Ming’s expression froze. He opened and closed his mouth, his voice even quieter now. “…Spying in Pure Land would put me in a hard spot. How about… the Dao Court instead?”

Lü Yang was even more surprised now. He burst out laughing. “That works too!”

Hearing this, Guang Ming instantly relaxed and said hurriedly, “To be honest, I have long been displeased with those people from the Dao Court. I am willing to serve you, Upper Cultivator!”

「Meanwhile, outside the battlefield’s Outer Realm.」

The three Perfected Lords stared at each other. World Purger Fei Xue, who had been silent until now, finally spoke, her voice a laugh as pleasant as silver bells.

“The Pure Land’s Monk sect… its reputation is truly well-deserved!”

“…You Demon! Cease your attempts to sow discord!”

Feeling the menacing glare from the Daoist Court True Monarch beside him, the Pure Land’s Perfected Lord could only keep a straight face and send a private message: “Daoist, do not overthink this.”

“It is merely a pretense, an expedient measure!”

“Besides, that Guang Ming is just a pawn. The one truly in charge is Guanghai. He is Fulong’s disciple and understands the bigger picture. He would never act so recklessly.”

“Hmph… Hard to say!”

The Daoist Court True Monarch remained noncommittal in the face of the Pure Land Perfected Lord’s explanation. It was clear he didn’t quite believe it.

This was because the Pure Land’s origins were far from clean.

The story went that the one founded the Pure Land had been a shameless character who clawed his way to the position of Master of Dao by playing all sides.

That Bhagavat’s methods were no different from the Stain Sect’s today!

It wasn’t even called the Pure Land back then, but the Pure Land Evil Sect!

It was only after that Bhagavat established the Joyful Nirvana Dao that he whitewashed his past. He succeeded, and to avoid speaking ill of the venerable, no one dared say much about it.

A shadow fell over the Dao Court Lord’s heart at this thought. At the same time, he grew immensely curious about the suddenly appeared Lü Yang.

’Just what are this man’s origins?’

He considered performing a divination, but with World Purger Fei Xue right there, she would only block him. It would be pointless, so he gave up the idea.

***

In the end, Lü Yang let Guang Ming live.

From him and the other Monks absorbed into the Myriad-Soul Banner, Lü Yang learned of a rather grim situation: they were surrounded.

The Pure Land’s Eight Legions of Monks and a Defender Army from the Dao Court—over a thousand Qi Refiners in total—had already gathered. They had formed an encirclement, setting up defensive Array Formations along the way. All of the Stain Sect disciples participating in the battle had been trapped within this circle, their space to survive constantly shrinking.

“Arrays…”

As a Seventh Grade Array Master, Lü Yang understood the power of Arrays better than anyone. He wasn’t afraid of superior numbers, but a large number of Arrays would be troublesome.

Especially since the Dao Court and the Pure Land clearly had their share of Cultivators who held a Position.

Although their Positions couldn’t be higher than his, as the saying goes, enough ants can kill an elephant. With the support of numerous Arrays, things could still get tricky for him.

What’s more, it was likely both sides were hiding even stronger trump cards.

So, in the end, he accepted Guang Ming’s surrender. After planting a monitoring Restriction in his Spiritual Space, Lü Yang let him go.

Of course, Lü Yang had also considered directly converting him into a Banner Spirit with the Myriad-Soul Banner. However, unless it was a Banner Spirit like Chen Xin’an or Su Nu, whose original bodies still existed in the Current World, allowing their karmic links to be used, the Qi traits of ordinary Banner Spirits were vastly different from those of living Cultivators. It would be difficult to hide them from a careful observer.

’…I still need to be careful.’

At this moment, Lü Yang reined in his burgeoning arrogance. Even if he was just steamrolling a Newbie Village, he had to ensure nothing went wrong, lest he trip over something small.

’If I were inside the Skull Mountains, with the boost from the Lay Lines, it wouldn’t matter how many came; they would all die. But outside the Skull Mountains, relying on Su Nu alone is a bit of a stretch. Although if I went all out, with Progenitor Tingyou’s help, victory would still be certain, but there would inevitably be casualties…’

And that was the problem.

Lü Yang wanted to win at no costs—especially after discovering just how incredibly useful a technical expert like Progenitor Tingyou was.

He’d feel the sting of losing even one of them.

Thinking this, Lü Yang silently turned to look at Qin Tianhe beside him.

As the saying goes, war always comes with sacrifices. But since he didn’t want to make any sacrifices of his own, he would just have to find a way to sacrifice someone else.

“Tianhe, how many people did the Stain Sect send this time?”

Looking at Lü Yang’s amiable smile, Qin Tianhe felt no warmth at all. Instead, a sudden shiver ran down his spine, and a chill spread through his entire body.

’Something’s not right!’

But under Lü Yang’s gaze, Qin Tianhe had another thought. ’So what if something’s not right? As long as it doesn’t harm me, what do I care if the others live or die?’

“Including myself, there are seven Direct Disciples in this battle. Besides us, there are eleven disciples at the Final-phase of Qi Refining who haven’t refined a Legendary Technique. The remaining hundred-plus are all at the Late-phase of Qi Refining, and they each have one or two powerful techniques. I just don’t know how many of them are left now.”

Qin Tianhe rattled off the numbers as if he knew them by heart.

“The Battle for the Dao has been going on for some time. I guess they’ve probably gathered together by now. If we head deeper into the encirclement, we’ll definitely find them.”

“I see.”

Lü Yang nodded, his smile growing even brighter.

Over a hundred at Late-phase of Qi Refining, eleven at the Final-phase of Qi Refining, and seven Direct Disciples. In terms of numbers, they weren’t any worse off than the Dao Court and the Pure Land—in fact, they might even have the upper hand.

This showed that while the Stain Sect might have fewer disciples than the Dao Court and the Pure Land, the quality of those who managed to stand out was beyond question.

’These are all valuable resources.’

Afterward, Lü Yang followed Qin Tianhe’s suggestion. With Qin Tianhe piloting the Void-piercing Shuttle, they zipped around, and before long, an Array came into view.

It was just as Qin Tianhe had said.

The disciples of the Stain Sect may have been evil, but they were definitely not weak. Even when caught off guard by the combined pincer attack from the Dao Court and the Pure Land, they had still managed to organize a defense.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep