Beyond the Light Sea.
Within the layered Dark Void, the main body of Lu Yang, who had been sitting in meditative concentration, suddenly snapped his eyes open. His eyes, which rotated with the light of the sun and moon, looked directly toward the direction of the Light Sea.
Earlier, he had cast a single glance at the Light Sea.
The gaze he cast down contained a single thought of his, which finally landed in the Netherworld, appearing before Sky-shrouding and transforming into a mental incarnation.
As long as that incarnation remained, it was equivalent to him "watching" the Light Sea at every moment; most disturbances within the Light Sea could not be hidden from him.
But now, things were different.
'My gaze has been blocked.'
The method of obstruction was exceptionally sophisticated; it wasn't a simple shielding, but the creation of a lifelike illusion that prevented him from seeing the true scenery.
If he truly came from beyond the Light Sea and knew nothing about it, he might really have failed to notice. However, as a native of the Light Sea who had governed the Heavenly Dao in his previous life, Lu Yang was all too familiar with this sudden method of blinding his gaze.
'It's the Sword Lord; she really does want me.'
Lu Yang felt a chill in his heart. Although the Sword Lord's appearance was absolutely peerless in the world, his heart felt not a shred of emotion toward her.
After all, he was not fond of women.
However, the influence of the [Threads of Sentiment] does not care about your actual thoughts. It is pervasive, almost forcibly diverting and triggering the emotions within a person's heart.
A dense web of sentiment, interlocking perfectly.
It was simply impossible to block.
Inside the Netherworld, Lu Yang's thought-incarnation was already deeply ensnared in the web of sentiment. Within his originally clear Primordial Spirit, a pink halo had strikingly appeared.
The moment Lu Yang touched that halo, he immediately felt an concept of the confusing, tumbling red dust of the mortal world—much like the shifting moods of a woman. The Sword Lord before him suddenly became charming and seductive, and a refreshing fragrance at the tip of his nose seemed to intoxicate him.
It was all the fault of the [Threads of Sentiment]!
Feeling the change in his thoughts, Lu Yang let out a long breath. A ring of light immediately surfaced behind his head, like the rotation of the Great Dao, standing majestic and unmoved.
My heart is like iron, indestructible.
"BOOM!"
In the next second, Lu Yang saw the immeasurable [Threads of Sentiment] completely crawl onto his thought, continuously penetrating into his mind.
This was like carving flesh with a blunt knife. In his previous life, Lu Yang had suffered immensely from this move; he couldn't dodge it, couldn't escape it, and couldn't even choose to sever it. Otherwise, the [Threads of Sentiment] would transform into the Wisdom Sword, and the blunt knife carving flesh would instantly turn into a sharper blade cutting through a tangled mess.
Therefore, he had come fully prepared this time.
With this thought, Lu Yang repeated his old trick, igniting the [Threads of Sentiment] with the fire of his Primordial Spirit and continuously transforming each thread into nourishment for his own spirit.
When passion reaches its peak, it turns thin, and when fate reaches its depth, it grows cold.
This was a method Lu Yang had specifically deduced to deal with the Sword Lord. However, his ability to do this was not because his Light of Wisdom was exceptionally high.
It was because this method was quite special.
Originally, the [Threads of Sentiment] were like sugar-coated bullets. Lu Yang's approach was to eat the sugar coating and throw the bullet back. To put it more bluntly—
This was dual cultivation.
The Threads of Sentiment themselves were not dual cultivation, but Lu Yang used his profound wonder to forcibly drag them into the realm of dual cultivation and then used his own talents to resist.
Only thus did he complete the clever neutralization.
The only flaw was that he had to concentrate his intent and resolve the [Threads of Sentiment] one by one through dual cultivation, and the Sword Lord had simply too many threads.
He couldn't finish the dual cultivation!
Fortunately, Lu Yang was mentally prepared for this and did not panic.
'At worst, I'll just discard this incarnation.'
'I'll entangle with her for now, then have my main body find a way to send another thought down to [Responding to Emperors] to wake up Dao Tianqi and have him cooperate with me in a play.'
This was Lu Yang's original plan. However, as the [Threads of Sentiment] went deeper and deeper, he suddenly froze, and then his expression became peculiar.
According to his experience in the previous life, after the Threads of Sentiment were planted into him, they would immediately slice through his profound and majestic power, weakening his cultivation bit by bit.
However, Lu Yang soon discovered that this life was different.
In his previous life, his foundation was ultimately rooted in the Heavenly Palace, and his essence had not changed. In this life, however, his foundation had already become the Great Dao.
His essence had undergone metamorphosis.
Although the [Dead Cycle] was of a lower grade, it possessed the characteristic of neither increasing nor decreasing. This meant that while it was difficult for it to grow further, it would not decrease easily either!
'These [Threads of Sentiment] cannot weaken me!'
The Great Dao rotates, with nothing entering or leaving.
In an instant, Lu Yang realized this was a massive opportunity. If used well, he might be able to take advantage of the situation and strike the Sword Lord for a big gain!
Meanwhile, the Sword Lord knit her beautiful brows slightly.
Under her watch, the mental incarnation of this Primordial Ancestor Xuande had already been wrapped in her [Threads of Sentiment]; no matter how powerful he was, it was impossible for him to break free again.
'Although this person also has methods to neutralize the [Threads of Sentiment]—which, to some extent, are even more formidable than the Primordial Saint's Supreme Forgotten Emotion, since Supreme Forgotten Emotion only allows oneself to remain unaffected while he can turn them to his own use—it's a pity his efficiency is too low.'
With this thought, the Sword Lord immediately increased her output.
This was, after all, the Light Sea. Under the governance of the Heavenly Dao, this was her home field. With support from her main body, her [Threads of Sentiment] were practically infinite.
"BOOM!"
With a single Daoist chime, Lu Yang, who was still struggling to hold on, suddenly took a step back. The [Threads of Sentiment] passed through the fire of his Primordial Spirit and grew even closer to his mental essence.
Looking at it, the distance was no more than ten inches.
"Fellow Daoist, if you move against this thought of mine, do you not fear that my main body will make things difficult for you?" Lu Yang said hatefully while struggling with all his might.
"Fellow Daoist should stop struggling."
The Sword Lord chuckled softly. She felt that the Lu Yang before her was like a camel loaded with straw; only a tiny bit more was needed to make him collapse completely.
Thus, she decisively intensified her output.
The ten-inch distance was instantly shortened to five inches, and it continued to shrink—only to be halted at a position three inches away from Lu Yang.
"Delusional!"
Lu Yang gritted his teeth, his expression cold. The fire of his Primordial Spirit boiled to the extreme, appearing as if he were willing to burn his own thought to block the [Threads of Sentiment].
The Sword Lord was momentarily stunned.
'He's not finished?'
According to her previous calculations, her output should have been entirely sufficient. It seemed this Primordial Ancestor Xuande was indeed not to be underestimated; he still had tricks up his sleeve.
But it was no big deal.
Since the original ten-inch distance had been reduced to three inches, as long as she could put in a bit more effort, wouldn't filling those three inches be easy?
Atop the Paramita, the Sword Lord's main body immediately cast down its gaze.
"RUMBLE!"
In an instant, the tug-of-war between Lu Yang and the [Threads of Sentiment] entered a white-hot stage. Under the Sword Lord's all-out effort, the three-inch distance was strikingly reduced to—
One inch.
At such a distance, it seemed as if she could touch him with just a tiny bit more effort, yet Lu Yang's struggle grew increasingly fierce, desperately defending the final line.
'Only a tiny bit away... why is it still just a tiny bit away?'
Watching this, the Sword Lord began to feel that something was slightly wrong.
(End of Chapter)