Just a Useful Pawn in the Stain Sect-Chapter 156: That Damn Couple

At Holy Fire Cliff, Perfected Chong Guang was in meditative seclusion.

But just then, Perfected Yin Shan’s voice boomed over. He seemed to be trying to suppress some intense emotion, but he couldn’t quite hold it in.

"Senior Brother! Come out and watch the show!"

Perfected Chong Guang opened his eyes and shook his head. "Yin Shan, how many times have I told you? You must remain composed no matter what happens. Don’t be so transparent."

"It’s just Chen Taihe trying to break through to the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment."

"He acquired the third Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch a long time ago, and now his Substitution Secret Technique is ready. What’s so strange about him attempting to reach the Late Stage?"

Despite his words, he didn’t have a look of reproach. He even felt a touch of nostalgia. After all, he used to be just like Perfected Yin Shan—a novice who had seen little of the world, easily startled by the smallest things. Now, however, he had grown numb to most everything.

There was nothing left in the world that could stir the waters of his heart.

Loneliness, solitude, tranquility... This was the path every Foundation-Stage Cultivator had to walk. The sweet and bitter of cultivation, the myriad faces of the mortal world—it contained them all...

"It’s not that! Lü Yang is with the wife of the Master of Heaven Mending Peak!"

"...What?"

The next second, Perfected Chong Guang, who just a moment ago had worn a look of serene indifference, snapped his eyes open, almost instinctively doubting what he had just heard.

Lü Yang?

The wife of the Master of Heaven Mending Peak!?

In an instant, Perfected Chong Guang circulated his Divine Sense, extending it past Holy Fire Cliff to gaze toward Heaven Mending Peak. A spectacular sight immediately entered his vision.

There, on the vast Heaven Mending Peak, was the Master of Heaven Mending Peak undergoing his tribulation outside. Inside, Lü Yang and Lady Ruoxiang had walked hand-in-hand into a great hall, their voices booming out via a Sound Amplification Array.

The crowd of Saint Sect Perfected Persons outside listened, utterly dumbfounded.

"You filth! You filth! You filth!"

Within the Foundation Establishment region, the Master of Heaven Mending Peak’s face was ashen with rage. He never imagined that Lü Yang and Lady Ruoxiang would do something so utterly depraved.

But a second later, he purged all distracting thoughts from his mind.

’Right now... the tribulation is the priority!’

The Master of Heaven Mending Peak was, after all, a great Demon. His shift from fury to composure was incredibly fast, and he even began to feel a sliver of disdain for Lü Yang and Lady Ruoxiang.

’Do that wretched pair really think they can disrupt my focus with such a despicable tactic?’

At this thought, a cold glint flashed in the Master of Heaven Mending Peak’s eyes. ’Yuan Tu... so it seems he already knows I worked with Fulong?’

’This has to be revenge!’

’Since he can’t get back at me, he goes after my wife?’

’What an animal!’

For a moment, the Master of Heaven Mending Peak was almost impressed by Lü Yang’s audacity and skill. ’No wonder Perfected Chong Guang thinks so highly of him,’ he thought. ’The man’s gall is boundless!’

’Whatever. I’ll just continue with the tribulation.’

The Master of Heaven Mending Peak reigned in his emotions, ignoring the sounds being deliberately broadcast from outside, and prepared to focus on the tribulation before him.

But in the next instant, he froze.

For at that moment, Chen Shuqian, whose Divine Sense he had sealed, suddenly trembled. Her once-vacant eyes rapidly regained their clarity!

"This is... the [Two-Body Unity True Skill]!?"

"That bitch!"

Only now did the Master of Heaven Mending Peak truly begin to panic. He instantly understood why Lady Ruoxiang and Lü Yang would do such a thing at this critical moment.

The [Two-Body Unity True Skill] allowed its two casters to deliberately share all of their perceptions and experiences.

Lady Ruoxiang had cast it on Chen Shuqian, originally intending for Chen Shuqian to help her overcome the amnesia of reincarnation after she was reborn.

Now, however, Lady Ruoxiang had turned this True Skill back upon Chen Shuqian. It awakened her from the ignorant state her father had forced her into by suppressing her Divine Sense—an effect not unlike overcoming the amnesia of reincarnation itself!

"Ngh..."

Within the Foundation Establishment region, Chen Shuqian’s brow smoothed as her stagnant thoughts began to turn once more.

"Ah!"

The next second, a scream echoed from within Heaven Mending Peak.

At almost the same instant, Chen Shuqian’s eyes flew open!

She was awake!

The moment she awoke, Chen Shuqian grasped the situation. Without a shred of hesitation, as the Master of Heaven Mending Peak watched in apoplectic fury, she violently self-destructed!

"No—!"

Her exploding flesh became a sky-filling mist of blood, instantly dyeing the Master of Heaven Mending Peak’s vision red. As Chen Shuqian self-destructed, brazenly severing the karmic links of their bloodline, he could clearly sense the Substitution Secret Technique he had placed on her dissipating. It could no longer draw the Celestial Thunder away for him!

"You unfilial wretch!"

The Master of Heaven Mending Peak ground his teeth so hard they nearly shattered. "If I hadn’t gone through hell and back to gather resources for you, how could you have ever reached Foundation Establishment? Is *this* how you repay me?"

"You’re wrong about that, Father."

A wisp of Chen Shuqian’s soul instantly fled the Foundation Establishment Realm, leaving only her voice echoing behind. "We were father and daughter. I truly didn’t want to be this blunt."

"But to be perfectly honest, I have never once been happy with you."

As her voice faded, the Master of Heaven Mending Peak watched Chen Shuqian’s soul drift lightly back down to Heaven Mending Peak. Simultaneously, the peak’s main gate swung open, revealing a large palace hall.

Lü Yang and a somewhat disheveled Lady Ruoxiang emerged, supporting one another.

In truth, this entire scheme had been Lady Ruoxiang’s proposal from the very beginning. Such a crazed act of vengeance spoke to the depths of her hatred for the Master of Heaven Mending Peak.

"Chen Taihe, that’s what I want to say to you, too."

Lady Ruoxiang’s red lips parted in a cold smile as she looked at the Master of Heaven Mending Peak. "All the time I’ve spent with you hasn’t brought me as much pleasure as that single moment with Yuan Tu."

The next moment, Chen Shuqian’s soul descended and prostrated respectfully before Lü Yang. "Thank you for saving my life, Elder Yuantu. Shu Qian will be sure to repay this debt generously in the future."

The Master of Heaven Mending Peak: "..."

Instantly, Lü Yang watched as the Master of Heaven Mending Peak’s face turned visibly red. Wisps of white steam even began to drift from his seven facial orifices.

"Good! Good! Excellent!"

The Master of Heaven Mending Peak took a deep breath and looked away from Lady Ruoxiang and Chen Shuqian. He suppressed his fury, because he was still clinging to a sliver of hope.

To overcome the [Celestial Thunder], he had prepared both his son and daughter. It should have been a foolproof plan. But now, with both Lady Ruoxiang’s and Chen Shuqian’s betrayal, he had lost one of his substitutes. Even so, with his power, he was still sixty percent confident he could survive the [Celestial Thunder]!

’Once I break through to the Late Stage... not one of them will escape!’

’Lady Ruoxiang, Chen Shuqian, Lü Yang... After such a monumental humiliation, even if I were to kill all three of those wretches in public, no one in the Saint Sect could say a word against it.’

’That’s right. As long as I pass this tribulation!’

Thinking this, the Master of Heaven Mending Peak’s gaze burned as he looked at his other substitute. "Xin’an, for your father’s sake, you can go in peace!"

In this moment of life and death, he finally tore away the facade of the loving father, revealing his greedy and deranged true nature. Cackling hideously, he began to cast the Substitution Secret Technique, about to redirect the roiling [Celestial Thunder] that was still descending onto Chen Xin’an...

...And then he saw a sight that nearly shattered his very soul.

"My apologies, Father. I’ve belonged to the Master for a long time now."

Chen Xin’an, who like his sister should have had his Divine Sense suppressed, opened his eyes without any warning. Then, he let out a long sigh in his father’s direction.