"You actually didn’t run?"
Seeing Lü Yang standing there with his hands behind his back, Duobao Tongzi dispersed his escape light, his face turning iron-blue as he instinctively released his divine sense to scan the surroundings.
"Something’s not right. No ambush?"
Duobao Tongzi looked confused.
To be fair, seeing Lü Yang with no intention of escaping at all, he thought he had been lured into a trap and had fallen into an ambush, but it turned out not to be the case.
On the other side, Lü Yang also furrowed his brows. "Why are you alone?"
Wasn’t there also that Old Man Dragon Fisher?
Didn’t come together? Not allies?
Or perhaps...
The next second, Lü Yang relaxed his expression. If the other party truly had ties to the Dao Court, they probably went south to 【Kingdom of Qing】 to find reinforcements.If that was the case, was there an even bigger fish?
Thinking of this, Lü Yang’s expression became even calmer. "As expected of a countryside rogue cultivator, utterly without morals. You make a deal one moment, and come to rob and kill the next."
This statement immediately struck a nerve in Duobao Tongzi, making his expression extremely ugly. "You, a Demon Sect True Person, dare to preach to me about morals? Surface-level deals, backstabbing robberies, collecting countless rare treasures without paying a single coin—aren’t these exactly the things you Demon Sect True Persons excel at?"
"You can even recognize me?"
Lü Yang deliberately furrowed his brows, then suddenly put on a stern expression. "You really have guts, knowing I am from the Primordial Saint Sect and still daring to chase me down to kill me?"
"Die, Demon Sect!"
Duobao Tongzi suddenly let out a furious shout, and a round mirror appeared behind his head. The mirror light shone down, revealing a flying message light.
"Hahahaha!"
In the next moment, Duobao Tongzi waved his hand, intercepting the flying message light. Sweeping it with his divine sense, he immediately burst into laughter. "So it was just a bluff!"
The flying message turned out to be a distress signal. In Duobao Tongzi’s eyes, it was clear that this Demon Sect True Person was merely pretending to be calm while secretly trying to call for reinforcements. However, he hadn’t expected Duobao Tongzi’s superior methods to intercept it!
With this thought, all suspicion left Duobao Tongzi’s mind.
"Today, you won’t even dream of escaping!"
As his words fell, dazzling treasure light burst forth behind Duobao Tongzi. The treasure light gathered into waves, surging like a tidal river, instantly transforming into a long river.
【Ten Thousand Treasures River】!
This river was entirely composed of treasure light, with countless artifacts floating within—blades, spears, swords, halberds, towers, bells, cauldrons, and furnaces—seemingly endless.
Then the long river swept downward. Lü Yang immediately felt a massive force descending upon him. For a moment, he couldn’t steady himself, stumbled, and fell into the river, after which the artifacts in the river pounced on him one after another, bombarding him.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The bombardments of countless magical treasures struck Lü Yang, but only produced dazzling sparks. Lü Yang remained unmoved, like a reef under crashing waves.
"What a fine 【Ten Thousand Treasures River】."
Lü Yang looked on with intrigue, observing the hundreds of magical treasures within the river. These weren’t just randomly selected artifacts; each was crafted with great care.
Individually, these treasures weren’t particularly rare.
However, they complemented each other, and when combined and activated with secret techniques, they could indeed harness the power of the stars and earth, displaying superior mystical effects!
Unfortunately, it was still too conservative, like a small workshop.
"Named Ten Thousand Treasures, it should truly contain ten thousand artifacts to be worthy of being called a river. A mere five hundred pieces can only be considered a stream."
Of course, this was understandable.
After all, Duobao Tongzi was merely the sect master of a small sect in northern Jiang. Having five hundred artifacts was already impressive; possessing ten thousand would be asking too much.
However, the Primordial Saint Sect was different!
The Saint Sect had a specialized artifact refinement department, filled with talents, working around the clock without rest, easily capable of fulfilling the demands of a true Ten Thousand Treasures River!
"And with only a few hundred pieces, the flaws are too obvious."
Lü Yang shook his head, then took out the Wasp Pouch, opened its mouth, and instantly, a swarm of black Qi-Eating Insects poured out.
Lü Yang had always kept in mind the legend of the Qi-Eating Insects mentioned by Elder You, never ceasing their cultivation. Now, he released them all at once. Billions of Qi-Eating Insects, like starving tigers pouncing on prey, swarmed the treasure light of the 【Ten Thousand Treasures River】, heedless of casualties, biting relentlessly.
Seeing this, Duobao Tongzi’s expression changed drastically.
"What kind of demonic insect is this?"
Although his 【Ten Thousand Treasures River】 could refine countless artifacts into a superior spirit treasure, at its core, it was still composed of hundreds of individual artifacts.
Thus, flaws still existed between the artifacts.
The Qi-Eating Insects, being able to slip through any gap, targeted these flaws and gnawed at the treasure light. Although a single insect’s damage was negligible...
There were simply too many of them!
Realizing this, Duobao Tongzi hastily performed a hand seal. The 【Ten Thousand Treasures River】 trembled violently, countless artifacts clashing together, producing a mystical sound.
【Treasure Chime Sound】!
With the activation of this mystical effect, the sound of chimes echoed unceasingly throughout heaven and earth. This sound was generated by the collision of the hundreds of artifacts within the 【Ten Thousand Treasures River】, carrying a peculiar resonance force. Wherever it passed, the Qi-Eating Insects could not control their bodies, bursting apart from within.
"Interesting..."
Seeing this, Lü Yang showed a curious expression. Through his divine sense, he knew that besides the mystical properties of the artifacts, the opponent had likely also used an innate divine ability.
However, the specific divine ability had been deliberately concealed by Duobao Tongzi.
‘Unfortunately, this matter concerns the success or failure of True Person Chong Guang’s pursuit of gold, and True Lord Qingcheng Feixue personally took action to conceal the heavenly secrets. Even a Foundation Establishment True Person is powerless to calculate causality.’
Lü Yang pondered in his heart, yet his hands did not slow down. With a wave of his sleeve, a purple-golden official seal hovered in the air. It was the 【Purple Star Official Descending Supreme Gold Seal】, a magical treasure gifted to him by Ying Tongshou when he was overseas, particularly effective in suppressing metal artifacts.
"Set!"
Lü Yang performed a seal and pointed, and the 【Purple Star Official Descending Supreme Gold Seal】 came crashing down with the might of Mount Tai, pressing directly on the raging 【Ten Thousand Treasures River】.
In the next second, the 【Ten Thousand Treasures River】 suddenly froze.
All artifacts, being made of metal, were severely suppressed by the 【Purple Star Official Descending Supreme Gold Seal】. With one strike, the mystical effect was instantly lost!
Seeing this, Duobao Tongzi narrowed his eyes. "Demon Sect..."
His eyes showed both greed and hatred, but soon after, he revealed a joyful expression, looked up at the sky, and burst into laughter. "Hahaha! Your death is at hand!"
As his words fell, several more escape lights broke through the sky!
When the lights landed, Old Man Dragon Fisher, True Person of Five Elements, and others stepped out one after another—a total of six Foundation Establishment True Persons, including two at mid-Foundation Establishment!
Including Duobao Tongzi, that made three at mid-Foundation Establishment!
In an instant, a massive force locked down the void, firmly trapping Lü Yang in place, ensuring he had nowhere to escape, not even into the Foundation Establishment realm.
"Fellow Daoist Duobao, this time you’ve truly rendered great merit."
True Person of Five Elements laughed heartily, and Duobao Tongzi looked equally relaxed. Even the most cautious Old Man Dragon Fisher couldn’t help but sigh in relief.
No matter how one looked at it, victory was assured.
Seven Foundation Establishment True Persons—three mid-stage and four early-stage—almost half of 【Kingdom of Qing】’s Foundation Establishment forces, surrounding a single Primordial Saint Sect True Person.
Even if the Saint Sect True Persons were renowned for their strength.
The power disparity was seven to one, the advantage was ours!
Yet just as everyone believed the outcome was sealed, Lü Yang suddenly laughed. "Indeed, Fellow Daoist Duobao, you truly have rendered great merit!"
Duobao Tongzi was stunned. "What?"
Before the words had fully fallen, an even greater force suddenly erupted outside the encirclement formed by the seven Foundation Establishment True Persons, reversing the situation and encircling them instead!
"Ah!"
In the next second, among the four early-stage True Persons, Ancestor of the Zhaoxia Clan, Xia Weiming, let out a miserable scream as his chest was violently pierced by a massive hand!
Xia Weiming’s reaction was not slow. His Dharma body shattered, transforming into countless streams of light, swiftly reassembling beside True Person of Five Elements. However, his expression was filled with extreme terror. That strike had not only pierced his Dharma body but also shattered his Dao foundation!
This nearly crippled ninety percent of his strength, almost killing him outright!
"...Quite good at escaping."
Among the crowd, True Person Yinshan’s expression was gloomy, his tone devoid of any emotion as he shook his hand. "Forget it. Severely injuring one is enough."
On the other side, Lü Yang laughed heartily. "Senior Brother, why did you take so long?"
True Person Yinshan finally curled his lips into a smile. "Wasting a bit of time finding people, but we’ve truly hooked a big school of fish this time."
As his words fell, outside the encirclement of the seven Foundation Establishment True Persons from 【Kingdom of Qing】, several figures stepped out, their auras erupting. They were the Foundation Establishment True Persons who had just left the trading conference. Besides the mid-stage Foundation Establishment Han Xiang, there was also a valiant woman in battle gear.
From the very start, Lü Yang and True Person Yinshan had sensed something was wrong.
Or rather, they had suspected something. And in true Saint Sect fashion, they drew the bow before painting the target, ensuring they had contingencies in place.
Thus, while Lü Yang served as bait, True Person Yinshan secretly gathered cultivators from northern Jiang, setting up a hidden ambush, just waiting for the fish to take the hook!
"A bunch of Jiangdong rats, daring to play tricks with my Primordial Saint Sect?"
"Overestimating yourselves!"
Seeing this, True Person of Five Elements’ face instantly turned deathly pale. Recalling Lü Yang’s earlier words, he abruptly turned around, glaring viciously at Duobao Tongzi.
"You betrayed me!?"