Although he roared in his heart about the unfairness, the Old Dragon Lord's reaction was still very fast, and very honest:
"I surrender! I surrender."
Without a shred of hesitation, the Old Dragon Lord acted purely on instinct. At the same moment he surrendered, his dragon body exploded with a BOOM without any hesitation!
Amidst the rolling blood light, Lu Yang could only take a step back.
In the next second, the blood light reunited, and the Old Dragon Lord's figure re-emerged. However, compared to before, this time he genuinely revealed a bit of an aged state.
The previous Old Dragon Lord, though appearing old, only looked that way on the surface. In reality, his essence, qi, and spirit were vigorous to the extreme, practically younger than Tian Qiu. But now, his hair and beard, which were originally just artificially white, had genuinely turned somewhat gray. His life force had been ground away.
It's the [Tribulation Evil Profound Light]!
Lu Yang knew it clearly in his heart. The sneak attack he had just launched using the [Knowledge-Perception Barrier] cast by [Sky-Shrouding] had detonated the [Tribulation Evil Profound Light] inside the Old Dragon Lord's body in one fell swoop.
The effect was astonishingly good.
That the Old Dragon Lord could hold on until now was purely because his natural dragon body was too strong, relying on his physical constitution to tough it out. Anyone else would have long since died and reincarnated.
Of course, reincarnation was also inescapable.
This was the domineering aspect of the [Tribulation Evil Profound Light]. Resonating with karma, once hit, even if one reincarnated, the karma would not perish and the tribulation evil would still generate out of thin air.
To resolve it, the only way was the same method [Sky-Shrouding] used before—to use time to slowly grind away the internal baleful qi and the external karma. Moreover, both had to be erased simultaneously. If even one remained, it would prompt the birth of the other, eventually forming a bone-attached maggot that would never end.
"How about it, Senior."
Lu Yang clasped his hands behind his back and smiled faintly. "Are you willing to honestly confess Mu Changsheng's whereabouts now? Or does Senior plan to exchange a few more moves with me?"
Was I exchanging moves with you?
Bastards... two young people beating up an old man like me, bullying me because I'm old and weak, and even using the [Knowledge-Perception Barrier] to sneak attack. Truly shameless!
The Old Dragon Lord cursed inwardly, but on his face, he piled on a smile:
"What are you saying? I concede, I concede. This old man concedes. I ask Fellow Daoist to be magnanimous... To tell the truth, Fellow Daoist, this place is where Mu Changsheng is located."
"...Oh?"
At these words, Lu Yang finally spared some mental effort to look around. What entered his vision was a spectacular scene that deeply awed even him.
It was a line.
A long white line, resembling invisible light, yet also like a tangible object. Heaven and sea intersected at that line; the vault of the sky reached its end at this line.
Sun, moon, and stars; floating light and clouds; everything adorning the canopy of the sky fell at this line, rolling into the ocean just like that. And the ocean... similarly transformed at this line into an unspeakably broad waterfall, flowing into a bottomless abyss with no end in sight.
At first glance, this line seemed very close to them.
As if it were only a hundred or so li away.
However, when one truly tried to approach or extend divine sense to observe, they would discover they couldn't get close no matter what. Forcibly approaching would give birth to inexplicable heart palpitations.
"This is the Place at the Ends of the Earth."
The Old Dragon Lord sighed deeply and said, "Even Nascent Soul Dao Lords rarely cast their gaze here. Golden Core Perfected Lords can't even see this place."
"As for those below Perfected Lord, Foundation Establishment cultivators shouldn't even dream of coming here."
Lu Yang frowned tightly upon hearing this. [Sky-Shrouding]'s voice rang in his ear again: So that's it. It's this place. Indeed, it is suitable for hiding.
What place? Lu Yang asked.
That old loach called it the [Place at the Ends of the Earth], which is a bit obscure, perhaps out of respect for the Venerables... But I can tell you more plainly.
[Sky-Shrouding] chuckled lightly and said:
If you go down from that line of sky, you can enter the Netherworld.
At these words, Lu Yang's pupils instantly constricted, and he quickly reacted: "Does that mean Senior entered the Netherworld from this place back then?"
"Correct."
[Sky-Shrouding] said in a deep voice, "The old loach wasn't wrong about this point. Golden Core Perfected Lords and even Nascent Soul Dao Lords won't specifically cast their gaze toward this area."
"Because this place is too close to the Netherworld. And the stature of the Netherworld lies below the Present World, while whether it be the Foundation Establishment Realm, the [Sea of Bitterness], or even the legendary [Paramita], they all exist above the Present World. Therefore, if one rashly approaches here, their originally high and mighty stature might be dragged down by the Netherworld."
"Looking at it does more harm than good, so it's better not to look."
"However, correspondingly, this isn't a place one can cultivate. Staying for a few decades is fine, but stay for a few hundred years, and even a Golden Core Perfected Lord will fall back to Foundation Establishment!"
That powerful?
Lu Yang raised his eyebrows upon hearing this. While clearly recognizing the terror of this [Place at the Ends of the Earth], he also realized another matter.
[Sky-Shrouding]... This old bastard talks about how terrifying it is, yet he lived in the Netherworld for so many years.
Just how strong was he in his prime?
Thinking of this, Lu Yang grew even more wary of this evil old ghost and silently decided: In the future, every time I restart, the first one I'll screw over is him!
If this old ghost doesn't fall in realm, my heart won't be at ease!
Besides, only if he falls in realm and becomes destitute is it possible to form the unbreakable alliance they had now. This was also for each other's sake, after all.
Meanwhile, the Old Dragon Lord was still begging for mercy:
"Fellow Daoists, aren't you looking for Mu Changsheng? He's right here. Go find him yourselves; I guarantee I won't get involved."
After speaking, he wanted to leave.
But in the next second, Lu Yang made a move to block him. Simultaneously, [Sky-Shrouding]'s smoke-filled figure also emerged, staring straight at him.
"Senior... this is excessive. Do you take us for fools?"
"Huh?"
The Old Dragon Lord blinked his innocent, large eyes. Heaven and earth have a conscience; he had genuinely only sent Mu Changsheng here back then for the sake of the Lord of Heaven.
After that, he hadn't cared about it.
Thinking of this, he hurriedly shook his head. "What do you mean, Fellow Daoists? There must be a misunderstanding here. Let's speak plainly; please don't attack..."
"Alright."
Lu Yang smiled, then said softly, "First, Fellow Daoist was running toward this place with us from the very beginning, before I said I was looking for Mu Changsheng."
"Why?"
"Can I assume... Fellow Daoist actually saw through our identities back at the Dragon Palace and guessed we came to find Mu Changsheng?"
"In other words..."
At this point, [Sky-Shrouding] chimed in timely: "Old loach, you collaborated with Mu Changsheng."
Lu Yang nodded and continued, "But Mu Changsheng is an Unorthodox Perfected Lord. Even with the protection of the Lord of Heaven, on what basis could he collaborate with you, a Dragon Lord?"
"There is only one answer," [Sky-Shrouding] said.
"[Heavenly Being's Remnant Consciousness]!"
"Mu Changsheng revealed the only intelligence he had that could move you—the [Heavenly Being's Remnant Consciousness]—to you. That's why you could guess we came to find him."
"Because we hid ourselves before, and even Nascent Soul Dao Lords couldn't find us. If you understand the [Heavenly Being's Remnant Consciousness], you should understand we also have corresponding intelligence in our hands... So you want to know our intelligence. And under these circumstances, you brought us to find Mu Changsheng."
"To summarize, for the sake of the intelligence in our hands, you and he deliberately ambushed us."
"The conclusion is you want to kill us!"
Lu Yang reached a reasonable and logical deduction. Beside him, [Sky-Shrouding] also nodded in extreme agreement. Only the Old Dragon Lord's face was twisted.
Fuck me!
Wailing in his heart, he hurriedly said, "Misunderstanding! Purely a misunderstanding! Look at me now; with what could I ambush two Fellow Daoists?"
However, Lu Yang and [Sky-Shrouding] turned a deaf ear to this.
Even the Old Dragon Lord realized halfway through his explanation and shut his mouth.
The reason was simple:
Saint Sect Perfected Lords have always shot the arrow first and then drawn the target. You have a motive, the logic flows, so regardless of whether you actually thought that way, we will assume you did!