Mount Baodu.
Lu Yang waited with bated breath. The [Light-Chasing Dao Heart] circulated at full capacity, and the [The Book of a Hundred Lifetimes] panel was open to the "Restart" column. He was ready to execute a victorious retreat into his next life at a moment's notice.
Just like that, three days passed.
Nothing happened.
Not only did a giant hand fail to fall from the sky and slap him to death, but the Grotto-Heaven Method faction in the Netherworld didn't show any abnormalities either.
Gradually, Lu Yang's tense mind relaxed, and he exhaled a long breath of stale air. It seems I misunderstood him. That evil old ghost [Sky-shrouding] didn't choose to defect. At the very least, he didn't provide the most crucial evidence to directly lock onto my identity... I can still fight in this life!
Lu Yang was very confident in this conclusion.
Because there was one fatal flaw in the process of his smuggling into the Netherworld that absolutely could not be bypassed—he had been discovered by the World Honored One at the Bridge of Helplessness.
The World Honored One remembered him.
Although the World Honored One had let him go at the time, if [Sky-shrouding] had defected, sided with the Primordial Saint Ancestor, and spilled all the intelligence related to him...
Then the World Honored One would naturally realize he had been mistaken earlier.
At that point, his identity would be completely locked on. Whether it was the Primordial Saint Ancestor's giant hand reaching for him, or the World Honored One contacting him secretly, it would all be perfectly logical.
Yet, the result was—nothing happened.
Not only did the Primordial Saint Ancestor not come looking for me, but neither did the World Honored One. But theoretically speaking, it's impossible for the World Honored One not to come looking for me.
But he just didn't come.
There was only one conclusion: [Sky-shrouding] had influenced his judgment, telling him not to come looking for him. Why? The only possibility was to protect him.
A Dao Lord's stature is too massive. Even a slight interference in the Mortal World would immediately draw the attention of other Dao Lords. That's why the World Honored One deliberately drew me into the Great Karmic Net—his exclusive domain—before coming to see me back then. This is an attitude only shown towards collaborators.
Because collaborators couldn't just casually die, nor could they be discovered.
If he was treating Lu Yang like a pawn, or a dispensable existence, the World Honored One wouldn't have cared about exposure at all and would have just directly cast his gaze down to contact him.
Therefore, he reached a conclusion:
In the eyes of the World Honored One, I am a collaborator. I wouldn't have gotten this status for nothing; it's only possible because I am beneficial to [Sky-shrouding]'s attainment of the Dao.
Just like in his past life's past life.
The main reason the World Honored One helped him execute the plan to collapse the Foundation Establishment Realm—besides messing with the Primordial Saint Ancestor—was actually to help [Sky-shrouding].
The relationship between those two is even closer than I imagined!
It didn't seem like the Saint Sect at all.
Lu Yang even suspected that [Sky-shrouding] held some sort of blackmail over the World Honored One. Otherwise, how could a dignified Dao Lord expend so much effort plotting for him?
So here came the question.
As a collaborator, what do the World Honored One and [Sky-shrouding] want me to do this time? Reversing [Inversion] was definitely not just to trigger [Tribulation].
It's a signal.
Lu Yang lowered his eyelids, the answer already in his heart. This is telling me that he is ready on his end and can start attaining the Dao at any time!
If I am also ready, I can coordinate with him immediately. If I am not, then he will coordinate with me... At first glance, he seems like a pretty good guy, but I'm guessing he still has some petty tricks up his sleeve. To divert the Primordial Saint Ancestor's gaze toward the Netherworld, he might have even reported me.
That way, Lu Yang would attract more of the Dao Lord's firepower, giving [Sky-shrouding] more breathing room.
One ring interlocking with another. It contained both cooperation and calculation. This was how disciples of the Saint Sect cooperated. You couldn't not believe them, but you couldn't believe them entirely either.
If you believed them entirely, you deserved to die.
If you didn't believe them at all, you'd be screwing over your teammate.
Thinking of this, Lu Yang took a deep breath, finally clearing his thoughts. He then looked at the nearly dried-up [Myriad Refinements Blood Pool] beside him.
Thanks to this, the gestation of the Divine Wood seed has been greatly advanced.
It can be born in three months at most. So my preparations are also complete... However, with just me alone, my weight is not enough.
Lu Yang's self-awareness was very clear. Although he was very strong right now, and asked himself to fear no one in a one-on-one fight in the Netherworld, he was ultimately not a Heaven Treading Great Perfected Lord. The scale of the trouble he could cause was ultimately limited. If he acted rashly, it was more likely he'd be kicked to death directly by the Primordial Saint Ancestor.
So... I should find people with more weight.
The First-generation Master of Beast Taming Peak! The First-generation Master of Pill Cauldron Peak!
These two were the ones with true weight, capable of shifting the Primordial Saint Ancestor's gaze and even becoming targets of his intense focus. Incidentally, they could also help him draw fire.
Lu Yang sat cross-legged, pondering in his heart:
Forget about the First-generation Master of Beast Taming Peak.
I completely fail to understand his thought process. Plus, his comprehension is too high; we aren't even the same species anymore. There's simply no way to control his actions.
On the other hand, there's the First-generation Master of Pill Cauldron Peak. At the very least, I know his goal is the [Nascent Soul Pill], and that it's hidden in the Netherworld. Moreover, his cultivation should also meet the standard; he should also be at the Heaven Treading Realm... However, his method of advancement should be different from both the World Honored One's and the First-generation Master of Beast Taming Peak's.
The World Honored One and the First-generation Master of Beast Taming Peak advanced by forging planes.
But according to Lu Yang's deduction, the First-generation Master of Pill Cauldron Peak's method should be identical to Pan Huang's—relying on the elevation from a Dao Lord to attain the stature of the Heaven Treading Realm.
Other than that, there was no second possibility.
After all, according to the Long Stairway to Divinity theory, there were only three methods to advance to the Heaven Treading Realm in total. The method of Treading the Heavens via the Grotto-Heaven Method only existed after [Sky-shrouding] paved the way.
The methods of the World Honored One and the First-generation Master of Beast Taming Peak inevitably left behind planes akin to the Foundation Establishment Realm and the Netherworld.
However, the First-generation Master of Pill Cauldron Peak left nothing behind. His traces had nearly vanished, and the only remaining Pill Cauldron Secret Realm couldn't even reach the level of the Foundation Establishment Realm.
So the only possibility was elevation by a Dao Lord.
And this coincidentally matched the clues he possessed.
The Ancestral Dragon's Legacy Lineage!
Although he didn't know exactly what this was, it was clearly a rare treasure closely related to the Ancestral Dragon. Elevating someone to the Heaven Treading Realm with it shouldn't be an issue.
Of course, his current state is probably not very good.
Of the four great Peak Masters—except for the World Honored One who successfully transcended—both the First-generation Master of Heaven-Mending Peak and the First-generation Master of Beast Taming Peak were half-dead. Why would the First-generation Master of Pill Cauldron Peak be any exception?
However... I roughly have an idea of the First-generation Master of Pill Cauldron Peak's location, or rather, the location where he plans to finally refine the [Nascent Soul Pill].
Lu Yang recalled a piece of intelligence he had obtained earlier:
The Death Spirit cultivators of the Three Foundations were converging on Mount Luofu. The Dao Arts cultivators who had infiltrated the Netherworld from the Mortal World's Mysterious Wall had taken the lead in establishing [Mount Longhu].
They wanted to forge the [Fifth Ghost Domain].
People lacking Dao comprehension might just listen and forget it.
However, only those who know the true value of the [Four Great Ghost Domains] can understand just how incredibly difficult it is to forge a so-called [Fifth Ghost Domain].
Only a Heaven Treading Great Perfected Lord could possibly achieve it!
And in the current Netherworld, besides the missing First-generation Master of Pill Cauldron Peak, who else could have this capability? Who else could possess such heaven-defying means?
With this thought, Lu Yang immediately flicked his sleeve and stood up, but then abruptly stopped.
Although his deduction just now was well-founded, he couldn't completely rule out one possibility: what if [Sky-shrouding] had truly defected and completely sold him out?
Could the reason he wasn't looking for him be that he wanted to use his hands to dig out the First-generation Master of Beast Taming Peak and the First-generation Master of Pill Cauldron Peak, only to catch them all in one fell swoop?
After a long silence, Lu Yang took a step forward.
You evil old ghost, I'll believe half of what you say.
I believe you would defect and report me. But I don't believe you would completely expose my intelligence and hand over a [Fellow Daoist] who is beneficial to you to someone else on a silver platter.
To [Mount Longhu]!