Within the karmic scene from five thousand years ago.
Lu Yang furrowed his brows deeply. He firmly believed that a variable must exist. It was impossible for the Ancestor of the Saint Sect to erase all variables; otherwise, he would have done whatever he pleased long ago.
'A variable that even the Ancestor of the Saint Sect failed to discover must be hidden extremely deeply.'
Inside the island cave abode, Lu Yang fell into deep thought. Only after a long while did he find a train of thought, his eyes lighting up slightly: 'The only one capable of influencing a Dao Lord should be another Dao Lord!'
The World Honored One.
'Since he told me to come to five thousand years ago to hitch a ride, it means he definitely left a contingency plan five thousand years ago to ensure my plan would be viable.'
In other words, this variable to break the deadlock might be very closely related to the World Honored One.
'[Sky-shrouding]? That's right! It's him!'
Lu Yang remembered. In his memories, before killing Hong Yun back then, [Sky-shrouding] had once gone to the false history and conducted a rehearsal within it!
He also possessed dual karma!
For a moment, Lu Yang was ecstatic, but his brows quickly furrowed again: 'Now, [Sky-shrouding] is already faking his death. I can't find him.'
The [Knowledge-Perception Barrier] was simply too overbearing. At the very least, it was impossible for Chong Guang and the Primordial Heavenly Demon to discover [Sky-shrouding] unless Lu Yang personally intervened to search. However, doing so would expose him, and the result would only be the shattering of the karmic scene, ruining the entire endeavor. This made Lu Yang feel quite frustrated.
'Has this loophole been plugged too?'
Lu Yang scratched his head but didn't give up: 'No rush. The point in time I arrived at is very early. Currently, Hong Yun is still Perfected Lord Heavenly Fortune Bright Light.'
[Sky-shrouding] would have to show himself sooner or later; otherwise, how could he kill Hong Yun?
'I don't need to find [Sky-shrouding]. I just need to keep an eye on Hong Yun. By following Hong Yun, [Sky-shrouding] will eventually appear, and then I can make my move.'
Thinking of this, Lu Yang calmed his emotions.
He began to patiently track Hong Yun, even directly letting the Primordial Heavenly Demon and Chong Guang move into his sea of consciousness. Inner Demons were treacherous and unpredictable; Hong Yun remained completely oblivious to this.
Soon, two and a half years passed.
Time flowed like water. Lu Yang simply watched as Perfected Lord Heavenly Fortune Bright Light roamed the Immortal Nexus, killed unorthodox cultivators, refined True Treasures, was abandoned by the Heavenly Lord, and then went into secluded cultivation—
Boom!
Suddenly one day, Hong Yun died.
Without any warning whatsoever, before the Primordial Heavenly Demon and Chong Guang hiding in his sea of consciousness could even react, Hong Yun suddenly exploded with a loud boom.
Even Hong Yun himself had a look of complete bewilderment on his face.
By the time he regained his senses, the [Eternal Brilliance Precious-Light Grotto-Heaven] had already shattered, tumbling out from the [Overturned Lamp Flame], and his Golden Nature soul drifted down into the Netherworld.
"What!?"
Such a sudden anomaly instantly startled Lu Yang. His first reaction was that [Sky-shrouding] had used the [Knowledge-Perception Barrier] to have a "heart-to-heart" exchange with Hong Yun.
As for Chong Guang and the Primordial Heavenly Demon being completely unaware, this was normal. After all, the [Sky-shrouding] of this time was highly likely already a Great Perfected Lord. Even if he wasn't, given the intensity of [Great Forest Wood] and [Sky-shrouding]'s mastery over it, Lu Yang would find it strange if they had discovered him.
However, Lu Yang's expression quickly changed.
Because he didn't discover him either.
Bright light surfaced in Lu Yang's eyes, shining brilliantly. The profound wonder of [Overturned Lamp Flame] had already been pushed to its absolute limit, yet he still couldn't see even half a shadow.
'Impossible!'
Lu Yang's expression instantly turned serious. Although [Sky-shrouding] was strong, him from five thousand years ago was not strong enough to make Lu Yang completely unable to see anything.
After all, he was also a Great Perfected Lord now.
'Something isn't right. Did [Sky-shrouding] not make a move?'
At this thought, radiant light abruptly coalesced in Lu Yang's eyes, transforming into a round mirror alternating between brightness and obscurity. Its bright side faced outward, shining in the direction of Hong Yun.
[Yin-Yang Insight Dao Fruit]!
This Dao Fruit Secret Method, primarily based on [Overturned Lamp Flame], was enough to push its profound wonder of piercing obscurity and perceiving clarity to the absolute limit, seeing through all hidden methods.
Finally, under Lu Yang's careful observation, a scene finally surfaced on the round mirror formed by the [Yin-Yang Insight Dao Fruit]. It was a blurry silken thread. One end of the thread sank into the void, while the other end connected to Hong Yun. It was precisely this thread that directly triggered Hong Yun's fall.
'Is this... karma?'
Lu Yang was completely stunned. Hong Yun's death wasn't because [Sky-shrouding] attacked, but because of karma? He was destined to die in that exact instant.
'How is that possible!'
Lu Yang shook his head. Hong Yun must have been killed by [Sky-shrouding]; this was something [Sky-shrouding] personally admitted. The method of killing couldn't have been karma either.
Because [Great Forest Wood] wasn't adept at this.
[City Rampart Earth] was the expert.
'That's right. For Hong Yun to die so strangely under the influence of karma, it could only be [City Rampart Earth]... The World Honored One? No, it should be the false history!'
In a flash, Lu Yang experienced a sudden realization:
'Hong Yun dies and reincarnates into the Netherworld—this is the [Effect].'
'But what about the [Cause]?'
This [Cause] was supposed to be [Sky-shrouding], but in reality, no one in the official history ever saw this happen, nor could anyone verify this event.
[Sky-shrouding] kills Hong Yun.
How did he kill him? Where did he kill him? In what manner?
No one knew!
But now, Lu Yang finally understood: 'Hong Yun's death... is itself a part of the [false history]!'
'He didn't die after the World Honored One attained the Dao and altered karma; he died before the World Honored One attained the Dao! His death and karma were masked by the World Honored One!'
This was the variable!
'The variable was never [Sky-shrouding] at all; it should be Hong Yun! He is the one hidden the deepest, possessing both the karma of the official history and the false history!'
Thinking about it carefully, [Sky-shrouding] and the World Honored One had a close relationship. Would the Ancestor of the Saint Sect not know this? If the World Honored One placed the key on [Sky-shrouding], what difference would there be from playing with an open hand? Hong Yun, on the other hand, had absolutely no relationship with the World Honored One, nor was he an important chess piece in the Saint Sect...
Why wasn't he important?
One only needed to look at his treatment. Both were favored by the Heavenly Lord, but what kind of treatment did Mu Changsheng receive? And what kind of treatment did Hong Yun receive? The latter was clearly not valued at all.
Of course, what was even more important was:
'Hong Yun's karma is likely extremely close to the karma of the World Honored One's Dao attainment. Only in this way could the World Honored One use his own karmic fluctuations to cover up Hong Yun.'
And only in this way could Hong Yun slip out of the Ancestor of the Saint Sect's line of sight.
To put it bluntly, the time of Hong Yun's death was very close to the time of the World Honored One's Dao attainment. It was even possible that right after [Sky-shrouding] killed Hong Yun, the World Honored One attained the Dao immediately after.
This variable—was likely meticulously crafted by the World Honored One, specifically meant for someone in the future tracking back to this time to use as a connection to him!
'The World Honored One... as expected, he had this planned for a long time!'
Lu Yang became increasingly certain that the World Honored One eighty percent likely had an idea similar to his [Project: Collapse Paramita], but simply never put it into action.
Of course, this was currently just a speculation.
He could also be guessing wrong. Perhaps Hong Yun wasn't the variable to break the deadlock, and perhaps the Ancestor of the Saint Sect had also kept an eye on him and wasn't completely ignorant.
However—this was the limit.
'With my current intelligence, I can only deduce up to here at most.' Lu Yang's expression was calm. 'If it isn't Hong Yun, the worst that happens is I lose this life.'
Doing big things inherently involved taking risks.
The bigger the storm, the more expensive the fish!
"When it's time to gamble, one must decesive!"
Lu Yang took a deep breath, then walked out of his secluded cave abode. After performing some brief deductions, he quickly locked onto Hong Yun's reincarnated body and then took a step forward.
In the next second, he tore through the void and arrived before the recently reincarnated Hong Yun. With Chong Guang and the Primordial Heavenly Demon masking him, the current Hong Yun naturally sensed nothing. Lu Yang didn't waste time. Once again, he cupped [City Rampart Earth] in his hands, wielded a profound wonder, and transformed it into karmic light.
[Commanding Past and Present]!
Illuminated by the karmic light, every fine detail of Hong Yun's karma was revealed. In an instant, a distinctly divided, massive expanse of karma surfaced in Lu Yang's eyes.
Hong Yun's karma was extremely unique.
The vast majority of the area was colorful and brilliant, reflecting many scenes from Hong Yun's life. Yet, exactly at one specific node, a massive split occurred.
The split karma entirely transformed into a bottomless dark abyss...
Difficult to touch, impossible to observe.
'This is it!'
Lu Yang's gaze shifted. Without the slightest hesitation, and under the augmentation of [Commanding Past and Present], he leaped forward, jumping directly into that karmic abyss.
(End of Chapter)