Chapter 486: The Cornered Chong Guang |
To be honest, Lu Yang wasn’t panicked at all.
After all, his true body was lying low in the Dao Court, perfectly safe and secure. Even if True Lord Qingcheng Feixue came, he would not be the least bit afraid—separated by a Celestial Embryo clone, there was nothing to fear.
At worst, it was just the clone that would suffer.
And that was exactly what clones were for.
So compared to the Chong Guang right in front of him, Lu Yang was actually more curious about how Chong Guang had managed to find this particular clone. Thoughts spun rapidly in his mind:
‘First of all, if you believe a True Person of the Holy Sect, you’ve already lost.’
Chong Guang’s one-sided tale was nothing but empty bluster. Anyone gullible enough to believe it wouldn’t even reach full Foundation Establishment in the Holy Sect, let alone the peak of Qi Refinement.
Compared to that, Lu Yang trusted his own judgment more:
‘Leaving a mark on me? Even if it’s just a clone, with my level of cultivation, even if Hong Yun did leave a mark, there’s no way I wouldn’t sense it.’
After a brief moment of thought, Lu Yang smiled.
He opened his palm, and a radiant divine ability blossomed in his hand, instantly transforming into countless visions: flowers, birds, fish, insects, flying creatures and beasts of every kind emerged one after another.
【Root of All Things】!
This divine ability, which he had stripped from Hong Yun, was ultimately an external object and couldn’t be freely switched between his true body and his Celestial Embryo clone.
So it had remained with the clone all along.
“Is it this thing?”
Lu Yang looked at Chong Guang and chuckled softly: “Hong Yun... I underestimated him. He didn’t tamper with me, nor did he tamper with this divine ability.”
That’s why he never noticed anything.
If his guess was correct, Hong Yun had probably just left Hong Ju a secret art to detect the presence of 【Root of All Things】—or the location of Star-Earth.
‘After all, in this world, the only Star-Earth with a Yang attribute is the 【Root of All Things】 in my hand. It shines like a candle in the dark. I once found Hong Yun through this connection with 【Root of All Things】, and now he returned the favor.’
What surprised Lu Yang even more was Hong Ju.
Based on his past lives’ experience, Hong Ju should’ve been able to sense the transfer of Hong Yun’s Golden Nature. If so, Lu Yang had thought he would have defected to his side.
After all, Hong Ju’s life was entirely dependent on that Golden Nature.
That’s why Lu Yang had never worried about him and had essentially written him off—only to be caught off guard when Hong Ju turned out to be the problem.
‘Loyal to Hong Yun? That’s impossible.’
‘True Persons of the Holy Sect are always opportunistic—loyalty means nothing to them. When the Ninth-life Hong Yun died, didn’t Hong Ju immediately throw in his lot with Uncle-Master Chong Guang?’
So there was only one answer left.
‘He received Hong Yun’s spiritual message, became convinced that Hong Yun would die and his Golden Nature would perish, and decided to seek a new patron in Chong Guang?’
That was understandable. In fact, the judgment was quite accurate—Lu Yang was planning to burn away the Golden Nature eventually. In the last life, Hong Ju had tried to defect to him, but after Lu Yang burned the Golden Nature, the guy had terrible luck and likely died a very miserable death.
This time, Hong Ju had gotten much smarter.
In the end, it all came down to the difference in information. Hong Yun had clearly recalled many things at the last moment and had passed them all to Hong Ju without reservation.
With different information, Hong Ju naturally made a completely different choice.
In the blink of an eye, Lu Yang had unraveled all the causes and effects of how his clone was discovered, and his expression grew more composed:
“Fellow Daoist, empty threats only highlight your weakness.”
As his words fell, Chong Guang narrowed his eyes, then shook his head: “Not a threat—just wanted to test your mettle, Fellow Daoist.”
As expected!
Lu Yang sneered inwardly: Chong Guang, you old bastard! I knew you were bluffing, trying to intimidate my clone into exposing my secrets!
The next moment, Chong Guang continued:
“Though Fellow Daoist Hong Ju claimed you were the incarnation of 【Ang Xiao】, I looked closely and think this might be a misunderstanding.”
Chong Guang had his own judgment.
At the end, Hong Yun had clearly grown paranoid, but Chong Guang was different. As an outsider, he could view Lu Yang more rationally.
“The one who gave me the intelligence on the cave-heaven fragment was likely you, wasn’t it?” Chong Guang said blandly. “That fragment was strange. When we returned to the sect and consulted the records, we couldn’t find anything relevant—until we heard the name 【Ang Xiao】 from Hong Ju’s mouth...”
Suddenly, it all made sense.
Only then did Chong Guang realize that the name 【Ang Xiao】 had actually appeared in the records he’d reviewed—it had just completely escaped his attention.
True Lord Feixue was almost driven mad by the oversight.
But that’s where things got interesting. If the cave-heaven fragment was connected to 【Ang Xiao】, and Lu Yang was the one who passed on that information, then something didn’t add up.
So Chong Guang concluded:
“You’re not 【Ang Xiao】—in fact, I believe it’s quite the opposite. You probably bear some grudge against 【Ang Xiao】, which is why you oppose him.”
Lu Yang made no comment but smoothly changed the subject: “Fellow Daoist, it seems you came to me alone—True Lord Qingcheng Feixue didn’t accompany you?”
“No need.”
Chong Guang shook his head. “This was a matter of tacit understanding between me and the True Lord. She allowed me a chance, did not interfere, and let me seek you out.”
“So?” Lu Yang asked. “What is it that you want from me?”
“This Star-Earth divine ability.”
Chong Guang remained calm, pointing to the 【Root of All Things】 in Lu Yang’s hand: “It’s a Yang-aligned Star-Earth. I want to use it to seek Golden Fruition. Might Fellow Daoist aid me?”
“I’ve heard from Hong Ju about your divine ability—that you can strip and bestow divine powers. If you could remove my current Star-Earth divine ability, 【Yin Dragon Water】, and give me this 【Root of All Things】, I might be able to eliminate the flaw in my Dao Foundation.”
Chong Guang proposed a bold plan.
Even Lu Yang hadn’t considered it before—using 【Sage-King Governance】 to swap someone’s divine ability? Could it work? He immediately ran the calculations with his Dao attainment...
‘...It’s doable!’
In a flash, Lu Yang’s expression shifted slightly: “Swapping divine abilities... is possible. But you’d have to accept the taint of my natal divine ability.”
This was no trivial matter.
Given the overbearing nature of 【Heavenly Fire Above】, if Lu Yang helped him switch divine powers, it would make Chong Guang his vassal—his life and death would be under Lu Yang’s control!
No different than being absorbed into the Myriad Spirits Banner.
Would Chong Guang accept that?
Under Lu Yang’s gaze, Chong Guang merely froze for a moment, then nodded: “I see. Then never mind.”
He refused!
At that moment, Lu Yang felt unexpectedly conflicted.
Because he understood:
Chong Guang might appear fearsome, even managing to find his clone, but in truth, the one truly cornered, with no way out... was Chong Guang.
‘This life has no 【Boundless Heaven】.’
With 【Boundless Heaven】 absent, Chong Guang had no choice but to go all in against 【Overturning Lamp Fire】. If Lu Yang were in that situation, he would’ve accepted any condition.
But Chong Guang didn’t. He refused.
Just like True Lord Qingcheng Feixue, he too had his principles. He could ask for help, he could negotiate, but in the end, he relied only on himself.
‘Indeed, relying on others, hoping for others—was never Uncle-Master’s nature.’
In other words, Chong Guang would never accept the Myriad Spirits Banner.
If he were to enter the Banner, it would have to be through death. But what use would a dead Chong Guang be, even as a Banner Spirit? Lu Yang had no shortage of those.
Thinking this far, Lu Yang actually smiled:
‘This is the Chong Guang Uncle-Master I know!’
The next moment, just as Chong Guang turned to leave—
Lu Yang spoke: “If Fellow Daoist is willing, I might have another method.”
Plans never keep up with change.
Lu Yang had originally intended to turn Uncle-Master Chong Guang into a Banner Spirit, then grant him the Fruitional Rank of 【Seven Luminaries Heaven】 after achieving Golden Fruition himself.
As for 【Overturning Lamp Fire】, it was useful for threatening 【Ang Xiao】.
But to actually destroy 【Ang Xiao】’s path? That would be far too risky. Lu Yang had always harbored deep apprehension toward that Holy Sect True Lord.
But now, he had changed his mind.
With a single thought, Lu Yang condensed his divine consciousness and slowly formed a shimmering contract at his fingertip. He lightly flicked it toward Chong Guang.
Then, with a faint smile, he said:
“Fellow Daoist, shall we do something great together?”
