Chong Guang took a deep breath and looked around his surroundings.
What met his eyes were soaring eaves that crossed the sky like swords and halberds, and painted beams that hung down like a starry river over the wilderness. The glazed tiles on the palace roof emitted a cold light day and night, while the black jade steps were entwined with mist-like patterns, churning with smoke and haze at dawn and dusk.
'It's so quiet... there's not a single person here.'
Chong Guang cautiously approached the center of the grand hall and looked up. He saw an octagonal clear mirror hanging high above, its light illuminating all eight directions, leaving nowhere to hide.
Beneath the mirror, seven three-legged round cauldrons were lined up. Faint green smoke wafted from them, and the scent of sandalwood permeated the air. The smoke swirled around the jade pillars inside the grand hall like dragons. Wind and thunder were hidden within, sounding like dragon roars. This immortal-like scenery made Chong Guang even more cautious; he stood rooted to the spot, not daring to advance any further.
Following that, he looked at the two sides of the grand hall.
On the two jade pillars carved with dragons, a couplet was written with strokes as vigorous as dragons and snakes. It carried a profound Daoist resonance that instantly struck Chong Guang's sea of consciousness like a heavy hammer.
Left jade pillar: The pivot of righteous qi suppressing heaven and earth.
Right jade pillar: The land of peace and health protecting the common people.
Horizontal scroll: Righteous and Luminous!
It was a long while before Chong Guang finally snapped back to reality. His expression was peculiar as he muttered inwardly, 'To think there truly are so-called righteous individuals from outer heavens.'
'It has to be fake, right?'
'Someone who can write such phrases is either genuinely devoted to the righteous Dao and can be manipulated through their own morals, or they are an utter hypocrite with a deep connection to the Sword Pavilion...'
At this thought, Chong Guang immediately took a deep breath. He simply stopped exploring and stood firm exactly where he was. He offered a bow and spoke loudly, "Humble cultivator Chong Guang requests an audience with Immortal Lord Du Ye, Master of Tribulations. From this day forward, I am willing to enter the Immortal Lord's command and be at your disposal, asking only for a path upward."
His voice echoed through the grand hall.
However, nothing happened. The spacious grand hall remained silent. Seeing this, Chong Guang's heart sank slightly. After pondering for a moment, he tentatively changed his approach:
"This humble cultivator also has a grand gift to present."
Before his voice even faded.
Chong Guang felt his vision blur. Then, in the previously empty grand hall, a black-robed youth resting with his eyes closed suddenly appeared at the seat of honor.
'When...?' Chong Guang's pupils shrank as he looked at the youth.
He just sat there quietly, as if he had never left. He didn't exude any earth-shattering aura, nor did he exert the unique stature-based pressure of a Golden Core Perfected Lord.
He was so ordinary it was terrifying.
"This humble cultivator greets the Immortal Lord." Chong Guang bowed again. However, the black-robed youth seemed not to hear him, remaining in deep meditation without offering any response.
'He won't release the falcon until he sees the hare... So he won't answer me unless I offer benefits? This personality doesn't seem like the kind of righteous cultivator who can be manipulated through his morals.'
Chong Guang smiled bitterly inwardly and said helplessly, "By exposing [Sky-shrouding]'s secret, the Immortal Lord has already made an enemy of him. This person is at the late stage of Golden Core and is on the verge of attempting the Nascent Soul realm, posing an immense threat to you, Immortal Lord... This humble cultivator possesses a method that might be able to strike down his realm, removing him as a threat to you."
Upon hearing this, the black-robed youth instantly opened his eyes.
In that instant, Chong Guang felt his mind tremble violently. His sea of consciousness felt as if it had been struck by a massive hammer, and he staggered abruptly, nearly collapsing to the ground right then and there.
But in the end, he held on and didn't fall to his knees.
Witnessing this, even though he had expected it, Lu Yang couldn't help but sigh inwardly. 'As expected... Senior Uncle Chong Guang has vaguely touched upon the threshold of the Dao Heart.'
Of course, achieving a perfect Dao Heart was still an unimaginably long way off.
But for a Perfected One at Foundation Establishment Perfection, even touching upon the Dao Heart was incredibly exaggerated. When he was at Foundation Establishment, he didn't even know what the heck a Dao Heart was.
However, that being said...
'From Senior Uncle Chong Guang's perspective, [Sky-shrouding] and I should be entirely incompatible like fire and water right now. But in reality, there's plenty of room for cooperation between him and me.'
'I don't care at all about his so-called method to deal with [Sky-shrouding]. I can even guess what the method is—it's nothing more than Hong Yun, isn't it? He's probably just going to tell me that Perfected Lord Qingcheng Feixue has decided to support Hong Yun in seeking the Golden Core, and that [Sky-shrouding] will inevitably step in to stop it, meaning a massive battle between the two sides is imminent...'
Thinking of this, Lu Yang sighed faintly in his heart. '...So this is the perspective of a lower cultivator.'
'Senior Uncle Chong Guang is gambling his life, bringing his bargaining chips to beg for a glimmer of survival. But in reality? I don't care about his bargaining chips at all, and I have no need to pay them any mind.'
Suddenly, a description surfaced in his heart:
'Utterly meaningless.'
'Exactly. Every single method a Foundation Establishment cultivator possesses is utterly meaningless to a Perfected Lord. Whether I lift him up or tear him down is nothing more than a passing thought to me.'
This was the very first time Lu Yang had examined a so-called "lower cultivator" from the perspective of a "higher cultivator." The difference in their realms meant their perspectives were on entirely different levels.
This was what Chong Guang was to him.
Then what was he to the Dao Lords?
Lu Yang's mood grew increasingly heavy. The slight smugness he had felt earlier about "swapping roles with Senior Uncle" had completely vanished, leaving only a sense of melancholy.
Following that, he stopped keeping Chong Guang in suspense:
"Very well, I shall assist you."
Meanwhile, Chong Guang was still racking his brains, trying to figure out how to persuade the Immortal Lord before him. Getting an answer so suddenly made surprise flash in his eyes.
"Does the Immortal Lord mean..."
"I shall assist you."
Lu Yang repeated it, then smiled. "You seek a Dao path, and I happen to have one I can give you. Once accomplished, its stature will not be low."
"If you possess perseverance and talent, your ultimate achievement will be no lesser than any orthodox Perfected Lord's, perhaps even superior... However, if you fail, your soul will scatter and perish, and you will never have the chance to reincarnate again. I will not hide it from you: if you walk this path, it will be quite beneficial to me. It's just that the path is fraught with numerous hardships and perils..."
"This humble cultivator is willing to walk it!"
Chong Guang didn't hesitate in the slightest. He immediately cupped his hands and said, "I implore the Immortal Lord to guide me. This humble cultivator is willing to walk this path, risking my life to seek the Dao. Regardless of success or failure, I will absolutely not regret it."
"...Good."
Lu Yang wasn't surprised. After all, if he didn't choose this, he wouldn't be Senior Uncle Chong Guang. So, he reached into his sleeve, pulled out a scripture, and handed it over.
Chong Guang focused his eyes and saw that the sutra was completely black, wreathed in purple qi. On it were seven talismanic characters written with vigorous, flying strokes: [Sovereign Heart-Demon Scripture]!
"This is..."
Chong Guang was momentarily stunned. He immediately took the sutra into his hands and began studying it earnestly.
On the other side, Lu Yang's expression remained impassive, but inwardly, he was watching Chong Guang quite nervously. This was because this was the very first cultivation technique he had written with his own hands.
Although his comprehension was lacking, his knowledge was vast, and he knew how to apply it.
Therefore, absorbing new knowledge might be a little difficult for him, but when it came to utilizing the knowledge he had already mastered, his methods were actually quite brilliant.
'The inner demons were born because of me.'
'[Sovereign Heart-Demon Scripture], as the name suggests, is a method of raising inner demons, and then, using the body of a living person, usurping the inner demon in reverse to transform into an inner demon oneself.'
'According to my deductions, the firmer a person's Dao Heart is, the more likely they are to succeed in executing this method. And as long as someone can successfully cultivate this method and transform into an inner demon, they can anchor themselves beneath my [Master of Great Tribulations]. This is equivalent to a Golden Core Perfected Lord anchoring themselves to a Grotto-Heaven, granting them a stature at the Perfected Lord level!'
'And once they possess the stature of a Perfected Lord...'
'Their very existence will become the foundation for anchoring [Inner Demons] to the world. This, in turn, will reinforce my Dao Fruit Sublimation Ritual, allowing me to take it a step further!'
This was the path Lu Yang had prepared for Chong Guang.
But right at that moment, his heart suddenly stirred. He felt a resonance from the unseen world. Looking up at the sky, he discovered that some sort of karma seemed to have established a connection with him.
It was an intent of resentment.
The weight of its accumulated grievance and the intensity of its hatred startled even him. It felt as if it had been accumulating for countless ages, only finding an object to vent upon today.
The next second, a thought inexplicably surfaced in Lu Yang's mind:
'The sea of light... has suffered under cultivators for far too long...'