Inside the Pure Land, no one noticed [Bodhisattva Coiled Dragon Shadow]'s change.
While inside his consciousness sea, [Sky-shrouding] was still nervously arranging things. Of course, he wouldn't snatch food from the World Honored One's mouth; that would be tantamount to suicide.
Moreover, the World Honored One had always been shameless.
Although [Sky-shrouding] had no conflict of interest with the World Honored One, annoying the World Honored One would really be troublesome.
So he only intended to borrow [Bodhisattva Coiled Dragon Shadow].
[Bodhisattva Coiled Dragon Shadow] as an Unorthodox Perfected Lord, the Unorthodox Dao Fruit attained is close to the concept of [Silted Sand Earth]. It's very easy to attract the manifestation of the Dao Fruit.
Unorthodox Perfected Lords weren't absolute.
If the Unorthodox Dao Fruit in the Unorthodox Perfected Lord's hand fit the local orthodox Dao Fruit, there was actually hope to use the Unorthodox Dao Fruit to merge with the Orthodox Dao Fruit.
The principle was the same as Rank 2 True Arts.
Only the risk involved was extremely huge, because Unorthodox Perfected Lords had neither a grotto-heaven nor golden nature, so seeking a local orthodox dao fruit carried a significant chance of failure.
And without Golden Nature, there was no talk of reincarnation.
Therefore, Unorthodox Perfected Lords only had a lifespan of one lifetime. They could not rely on golden nature to reincarnate and live forever—once that one life ended, death was death, with no next life to speak of.
For the sake of immortality, however, many Unorthodox Perfected Lords were still willing to bear the risk of failure.
And to seek the Orthodox with the Unorthodox, the first step was to integrate one's own Unorthodox Dao Fruit into heaven and earth.
After the Unorthodox Dao Fruit integrated into heaven and earth, fitting the rules of heaven and earth, only then could it receive the Dao Fruit's approval, thereby sensing the local Orthodox Dao Fruit and no longer be rejected.
However, once the Unorthodox Dao Fruit integrated into heaven and earth, it was equivalent to accepting the rules of this wretched place. Their Dao Fruit would therefore need Foundation Establishment to lift it up. The benefit was that in this way, the stature of the Dao Fruit could become higher, making them stronger. The downside was being restricted by it from then on.
The gap between Unorthodox and Orthodox was just this vast.
Even more, when unorthodox Perfected Lords sought local orthodox, the result was often the unorthodox Dao Fruit being eaten by the orthodox Dao Fruit, while they themselves weren't accepted by the orthodoxy.
Person died, and the Dao Fruit gone.
The well-fed orthodox Dao Fruit would pat its butt and leave.
Therefore, regarding unorthodox Perfected Lords, local Orthodox Perfected Lords were quite disdainful. How disdainful? One sentence could vividly describe it—
Even [Perfected Lord Chengtian Zhengde] looked down on unorthodox Perfected Lords.
Fortunately, [Sky-shrouding] didn't care about this.
I don't need [Bodhisattva Coiled Dragon Shadow] to really attain [Silted Sand Earth]. As long as he can attract [Silted Sand Earth] and help me pull it into the [Netherworld], that's enough!
After the event, [Bodhisattva Coiled Dragon Shadow] would be returned as is.
As for the World Honored One, as long as he stayed in the [Netherworld] and didn't go out, unless the World Honored One paid a huge price to descend in his true body, he couldn't do anything to him anyway.
"But when you do something… you do it thoroughly."
Since activating the trump card of [Bodhisattva Coiled Dragon Shadow], [Sky-shrouding] naturally wanted to do something big. How could he be satisfied with just one [Silted Sand Earth]?
Suo Huan!
[Sky-shrouding]'s thought turned, wanting to contact Suo Huan again to use him to stir [Eternal Flowing Water]. However, the next second, his expression changed abruptly—
What happened?
Inside the [Netherworld], [Sky-shrouding]'s main body stood up directly, revealing a grave look... Because just now, his karmic connection with Suo Huan—
Broke!
...
Overseas, [Earth Fire Sea Heart Furnace].
"In the world, there is actually such a strange thing..."
Suo Huan stared dumbfounded at the man in front of him who looked exactly like him, yet only felt a mighty spiritual sense surging into his consciousness sea.
The secret of [Spirit Ruins Blessed Land].
The trap of [Myriad Spirits Return to Ruins Dao Scripture].
[Knowledge-Perception Barrier].
In an instant, a look of sudden enlightenment appeared in Suo Huan's eyes, finally turning into calmness: "So be it. If you can accomplish it, what does it matter if everything is given to you?"
As his voice fell, Suo Huan's aura instantly weakened. With a tilt of his head, his life scattered. And his [Spirit Ruins Blessed Land] was also stripped of all essence, merging together into the man opposite, causing his aura to skyrocket instantly, reaching a certain critical point in just a few breaths.
The next moment, the man—or rather, the banner spirit Suo Huan—turned around and bowed respectfully:
"Many thanks to my lord for granting this fulfillment."
"…No matter."
Lu Yang's immortal fetus incarnation walked out of the shadows, looking at banner spirit Suo Huan with quite surprise. To be honest, he thought it would be a fierce battle.
However, the result wasn't so.
The original body Suo Huan of this life, after learning everything, actually didn't choose to resist, and even committed suicide voluntarily, giving everything to banner spirit Suo Huan.
Only because of one obsession—
Seeking golden core— re-establishing [Universe Ruins Realm].
Suo Huan's eyes were firm. This was his only goal for living on and cultivating until now. Since he had no hope, he handed it to another self.
"How does it feel?" Lu Yang asked.
"Basically recovered."
Suo Huan looked excited. His [Spirit Ruins Blessed Land] was severely damaged in the previous life because of receiving [Eternal Flowing Water], just one step away from complete collapse.
But after absorbing the essence of the original body Suo Huan's [Spirit Ruins Blessed Land], all damage had basically recovered. As long as he got the blessing of a Dao Court first rank official position and refined golden nature, he could immediately hold the ritual to attract [Wellspring Water]'s attention, thereby attempting to ascend the position and seek the gold!
Thinking of this, Suo Huan immediately looked at Lu Yang:
"My lord, if it were now—?"
"You see, you're rushing again."
Lu Yang shook his head seeing this, smiling: "Haste makes waste, no need to rush for a moment. Fellow Daoist go back to seclusion first, calm your state of mind then we'll talk."
"…This subordinate understands."
Suo Huan nodded, taking a deep breath to restrain his emotions. Obviously, he also realized he was somewhat anxious; this state wasn't suitable for ascending the position and seeking golden core.
The next second, Suo Huan turned into a beam of light and submerged into the [Myriad Spirits Banner].
But just then—
Rumble!
Accompanied by a loud noise like heaven and earth trembling, outside the [Earth Fire Sea Heart Furnace], a figure broke through space and arrived. Buddha light filled the sky. It was precisely [Bodhisattva Coiled Dragon Shadow]!
I'd like to see who exactly you are!
Inside [Bodhisattva Coiled Dragon Shadow]'s consciousness sea, [Sky-shrouding]'s gaze was cold. A large hand instantly covered ten thousand miles of sea area, grabbing brazenly towards Lu Yang.
In a flash, Lu Yang didn't hesitate.
—Self-destruct!
Bang!
The exploding blood light spread at [Bodhisattva Coiled Dragon Shadow]'s fingertips, impossible to reverse. [Sky-shrouding] could only watch helplessly as Lu Yang disappeared.
Not only that, as he controlled [Bodhisattva Coiled Dragon Shadow] to walk out of the Pure Land, the aura originally undiscovered under the cover of [Knowledge-Perception Barrier] was instantly noticed. The gazes from several Bodhisattvas of the Pure Land were cast down almost immediately, carrying a thick intent of scrutiny.
"Something's not right...Coiled Dragon?"
"'One Mind' hasn't been lifted, but there is some stiffness on his body, receiving no response... You are not Coiled Dragon! who are you?"
"..."
Facing the questioning of the Bodhisattvas, [Bodhisattva Coiled Dragon Shadow]... or rather [Sky-shrouding] had no interest in answering, only looking up at the sky.
The World Honored One didn't appear.
Just as I expected.
[Sky-shrouding] smiled slightly and stopped hiding altogether. With a thought, a streak of radiant light shot skyward, instantly lighting up a star above the vault of heaven—
[Silted Sand Earth]!
Almost simultaneously, a profound hole also opened behind his head, clearly the [Netherworld] portal. Behind the portal was [Sky-shrouding]'s main body shrouded in smoke.
...
Meanwhile, Jiangdong Dao Court.
Lu Yang's main body opened his eyes suddenly, looking up towards the direction of overseas. After a brief shock and suspicion, his expression gradually revealed heartfelt admiration:
As expected from [Sky-shrouding]!
He discovered I was deliberately targeting him. and to avoid future trouble,he played his trump card in advance... Decisive and resolute, worthy of being a Perfected Lord of my Saint Sect!
In a short time, Lu Yang had already solved Hong Yun, handled Suo Huan. Given time, if he waited for him to use [Wu You Heaven] to take away the world's Perfected Lords and trap [Sky-shrouding] in the [Netherworld], he could then falsely hold [Overturned Lamp Flame] and make [Sky-shrouding] suffer a huge loss... the process could be called a chronic death.
However, [Sky-shrouding] discovered the anomaly.
He might not have known the specific plan, but he keenly sensed the danger and thus acted first, instead making Lu Yang hard-pressed to respond!