Lu Yang opened his eyes and calmly surveyed his surroundings.
The mighty power that was once capable of overturning a World Realm had completely vanished.
All that remained was the frail body of a mortal without the strength to even truss a chicken, and he was even suffering from a severe illness.
Even breathing was a form of pain.
"Those whose names are called, step forward."
A familiar voice rang out from the platform. Lu Yang raised his head and found that he had once again become that ordinary, albeit handsome, young man who had just joined the Saint Sect.
"Drip your blood into the Life Lamp beside me and ignite your Life Fire. From now on, you will be Honorary Disciples of our Primordial Saint Sect."
Senior Brother Liu Xin continued to speak from the platform, and shortly after, the roll call began:
"Chen Liang."
"Here!"
Accompanied by a loud response, a young Daoist boy with red lips and white teeth walked up. His brow exuded an aura of spiritual intelligence, making it obvious that his aptitude was exceptionally good.
Unfortunately, aptitude was the most useless thing in the Saint Sect.
A second later, just as Lu Yang remembered, Senior Brother Liu Xin crossed the Daoist boy's name right off the list. He was then sent to the four halls of the outer sect as "material" to be remade.
'Interesting...'
Lu Yang chuckled inwardly. He didn't make any rash moves, but leisurely listened to Senior Brother Liu Xin's instructions from the platform. It wasn't until his own name was called that he slowly stepped forward.
The result, unsurprisingly, was that because he possessed an aptitude that was useless for anything other than looking handsome, he was assigned to the Joyous Union Hall.
After the assignments were completed, he received his cultivation method.
Soon, he followed the crowd to the Joyous Union Hall. Along the way, he listened to the other disciples chatting animatedly, their words filled with beautiful fantasies about the immortal path.
Everything felt incredibly real.
It was as if he had truly traveled back to the past.
Right at this moment, a voluptuous and breathtakingly beautiful woman walked out. She wore a long dress with a slit that went all the way up to her thigh, her every glance and movement exuding vivid allure and myriad charms.
Yu Suzhen.
Unsurprisingly, she picked him out of the crowd at first glance; he stood out like a crane among a flock of chickens.
"You're quite good-looking. Come with me."
"You're in luck. Having entered my Joyous Union Hall, you won't have to suffer and toil like those in the other three halls. After all, the trial of my Joyous Union Hall is much more relaxing..."
"Junior Brother, you're amazing."
"To think you could achieve such mastery in the [Ode of Yin-Yang Great Bliss] right after joining the sect. If your Senior Sister weren't slightly more skilled, you might have actually reversed the cultivation on me."
"What a pity. In the end, my skills are superior."
Yu Suzhen chuckled lightly, her beautiful eyes carrying a mix of smugness and mockery. At the same time, she gently twisted her slender waist, further accelerating the extraction of Lu Yang's essence, qi, and spirit.
However, Lu Yang remained completely unmoved.
Even on the brink of death, he felt absolutely no anger or terror. He simply immersed himself fully in the dual cultivation with Yu Suzhen, and finally sighed sincerely:
"So lifelike."
Hearing this, Yu Suzhen was instantly stunned.
Even the light came to a halt.
Inside the cave abode, the candlelight illuminated the room, revealing every speck of dust. Everything fell into a bizarre, eerie state of absolute stillness.
Except for Lu Yang.
He simply caressed Yu Suzhen's delicate body, feeling the warm, jade-like feedback, completely devoid of any wicked thoughts. Then, he shook his head disdainfully:
"Demon, this is what you're testing me with?"
The sensations, movements, and words—everything was exactly the same as in his memories. To be able to replicate things to this extent, the mighty power of the karmic net truly lived up to its reputation.
Unfortunately—it's useless against me.
"Everyone knows I don't care for female beauty. Using this kind of thing to test a Saint Sect Perfected Lord? Which Saint Sect Perfected Lord couldn't withstand such a test?"
Crash.
At this moment, accompanied by a crisp sound like shattering glass, the scene before him suddenly began to disintegrate. In the end, it plunged into boundless darkness.
A second later, light emerged.
Lu Yang opened his eyes for the second time.
What greeted his eyes was the exact appearance of the quiet room in the Heavenly Court before he entered his meditative state. And sitting right in front of him, holding a ball of iridescent light, was a black-haired young man staring blankly at him.
"I didn't expect you to be so proficient in karma, Fellow Daoist."
The Primordial Heavenly Demon fiddled with the [Time-Reversing World Instrument] in his hands. His dark eyes were like bottomless abysses, carrying a look of ill-concealed astonishment.
"It seems I've been showing off my meager skills before an expert, making a fool of myself."
Hearing this, Lu Yang nodded. "Indeed, showing off your meager skills before an expert."
The moment these words left his mouth, the originally calm smile on the Primordial Heavenly Demon's face instantly froze.
I was just being polite, and you actually dare to act arrogant with me?
However, Lu Yang took it as a matter of course and continued his critique:
"The profound wonders of [City Rampart Earth] are excellent, but you have no idea how to use them. You bought the wooden box and returned the pearl inside; you are sitting on a mountain of treasure without realizing it. It truly makes one sigh."
The Primordial Heavenly Demon's eyes gradually darkened.
"You seem to know a lot about [City Rampart Earth], Fellow Daoist?"
"Just a little bit."
Lu Yang chuckled. In his past life, he had used [Disciple Becomes the Master's Standard] to share Yuan Tu's Dao comprehension. That was the Dao comprehension of an orthodox [City Rampart Earth] Perfected Lord!
If not for that, combined with the protection of the True Treasure Yellow Court—which inherited the concept of [City Rampart Earth]—guarding his mind, he wouldn't have been able to remain conscious just now.
Normally speaking, Lu Yang should have been just like Emperor Jiayou earlier: falling into a karmic scene of the past while simultaneously having all memories of the future sealed away.
Yet, he hadn't been affected.
This was also why the Primordial Heavenly Demon had just said he was proficient in karma. Only those favored by the great karmic net could maintain their clarity within a karmic scene.
Of course, this was only one aspect.
On the other hand, the key reason he wasn't afraid of the karmic execution of [City Rampart Earth] was—[City Rampart Earth] couldn't trace his karma.
'Just what is going on with this guy!?'
Meanwhile, the Primordial Heavenly Demon was already feeling a bit frantic.
In fact, under normal circumstances, he wouldn't directly reverse time to a point where the target was merely a Qi Refining disciple, because the corresponding karma would be far too distant.
The more distant the karma, the more troublesome it was to alter.
Otherwise, why would he go through so much trouble? Wouldn't it be simpler and more direct to reverse time to when the target was a baby and just strangle them to death?
It wasn't that he didn't want to, but rather that he couldn't.
For example, when dealing with Emperor Jiayou, he had only reversed time to when Jiayou was at the Early Stage of the Golden Core realm. That made altering causes and shifting effects much easier.
And he had tried to do the same with Lu Yang.
But here was the problem—no matter how much he reversed time, before becoming a Golden Core Perfected Lord, this Immortal Lord Master of Tribulations and Ferryman of Karma was actually just a mortal!
What about Qi Refining? Foundation Establishment?
There was none of it!
'Are you kidding me! This guy definitely used some sort of method to sever his karma, preventing me from reversing it... This person's background is terrifyingly immense!'
It wasn't like similar situations hadn't occurred before. For instance, with [Sky-shrouding], the Primordial Heavenly Demon had no doubt that if he tried to reverse his karma, he would just end up slamming headfirst into a wall of white mist, possibly even killing himself in the process. Not being able to reverse time was already a comparatively good outcome.
The Primordial Heavenly Demon frantically brainstormed countermeasures.
However, before he could make a move, Lu Yang beat him to the punch. He formed a hand seal, and a layer of mesmerizing iridescent light instantly rippled outward from his fingertips like a wave:
"Demon, there's no need to think so much."
The iridescent light surged like a wave, instantly engulfing the entire quiet room.
"The World Honored One has truly taken great care of you. Giving you both [City Rampart Earth] and the body of a Heavenly Demon. After slaying Emperor Jiayou, you thought you were invincible."
"But that is not how you use [Commanding Past and Present]. Didn't the World Honored One teach you?"
"Never mind, I'll make up for that lesson on his behalf."
(End of Chapter)