Just a Useful Pawn in the Stain Sect

Chapter 533: Senior, Why Have You Stopped Running?

Although he had cursed endlessly in his heart, the Dragon and Snake Coiling Shadow Bodhisattva still hadn’t given up. He clung to one last sliver of hope.

’This Fake Holding... it must have a time limit!’

A Perfected Lord was not so easily killed, not even an Outer Dao True Monarch. As long as he held on, he could simply outlast Lü Yang. Victory would still be his!

The very next second, however, his expression changed.

Because at that same moment, Lü Yang—who had just dodged his Fruit’s impact—drifted over and gently brushed a hand across his Fruit.

’Not good!’

In that instant, the Dragon and Snake Coiling Shadow Bodhisattva felt a powerful pull, as if all the Mighty Power in his body was being drawn into a bottomless abyss.

Fortunately, his reaction was swift. With a single thought, he instantly recalled his Ten Thousand Transformations Fruit, only to watch in anguish as a corner of the hazy mist that was his Fruit was sheared away. The "Thousand Transformations" it contained were suddenly several hundred variations poorer, all of them now in Lü Yang’s hands!

"Hm... still a little off."

Looking at the thin mist in his hand, Lü Yang felt a tinge of regret. It was, after all, a Fake Holding; he couldn’t truly wield the Profound Mysterious power of the Fruit of Celestial Fire, which was why his opponent had managed to escape.

Otherwise, the Ten Thousand Transformations Fruit would have fallen into his hands just now.

After all, directly using a Fruit to kill an enemy was an extremely dangerous affair, even more so for an Outer Dao True Monarch. If it was damaged, their Dao would be incomplete.

’Mine now!’

With a casual toss, Lü Yang threw the corner of the Outer Dao Fruit into his Myriad-Soul Banner and fed it to his Fruit of Sword Dao. It was a good way to make sure nothing went to waste.

On the other side, however, the Dragon and Snake Coiling Shadow Bodhisattva’s expression grew even fouler. He could no longer sense the corner of his lost Fruit at all. The loss drove him mad with hatred, yet his reason forced him to retreat decisively, intending to use this opportunity to escape from Lü Yang’s sight.

After all, the rule forbidding escape was gone!

’If I’m not mistaken, he must need time to forge these rules. Otherwise, if he laid down several rules at once, wouldn’t I have been finished in an instant?’

This guess was spot on.

The rules Lü Yang established using the ideation of the Fruit of Celestial Fire did indeed have several limitations. First, the rules themselves could never conflict with one another.

Second, the rules took time to create, but the more rules there were, the faster they could be established.

Third, a maximum of three rules could exist at any given time.

’It’s mainly because I lack the fundamental Profound Mysterious power of the Fruit of Celestial Fire. Otherwise, there probably wouldn’t be a limit on the number of rules. A real shame.’

Lü Yang sighed, then pointed a finger.

Flames erupted, and all the rules dissipated. Then, a new rule emerged:

[Those who flee in battle shall be severely punished]

The next second, the Dragon and Snake Coiling Shadow Bodhisattva, who had been in mid-flight, halted his movement. He was clearly prepared and didn’t trigger the Celestial Fire Body Burning Punishment.

Lü Yang immediately gave chase in a streak of light, but the Dragon and Snake Coiling Shadow Bodhisattva had gotten smarter. He wasn’t fleeing; he was executing a fighting retreat, clashing with Lü Yang while continuously backing away to maintain distance. He was clearly exploiting a loophole in the rule, hoping to entangle Lü Yang in combat until he fell from his True Monarch Position.

One had to admit, it was a sound tactic.

A moment later, Lü Yang focused his mind, and a second rule was written:

[Those who see a monarch and do not greet them shall be severely punished]

KABOOM!

The Celestial Fire descended again. After all, the Dragon and Snake Coiling Shadow Bodhisattva was doing everything he could to avoid Lü Yang, so how could he possibly move forward to "greet" him? He could only brace himself and endure this blast of Celestial Fire.

Yet even as the Celestial Fire burned his body and he screamed in agony, he still kept his distance from Lü Yang, showing no intention of engaging him in Combat. He knew that as long as Lü Yang fell from the True Monarch Position, even if he himself was on the verge of death, as long as he was alive, killing a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator would be as easy as flipping his hand!

’Hold on! If I can hold on until the end, I’ll win!’

Clinging to this thought, even as the Celestial Fire burned him to the point of delirium, the Dragon and Snake Coiling Shadow Bodhisattva gritted his teeth and held on, giving Lü Yang no opportunity to get close.

Until the third rule appeared:

[The ends of Heaven and Earth shall be reached in a single step]

Staring at this rule, the Dragon and Snake Coiling Shadow Bodhisattva was suddenly stunned. ’Huh? What’s this?’

The next second, a bone-chilling cold swept over his entire body as he saw Lü Yang, empowered by this rule, slowly take a step.

THUD!

It was too fast. It was as if he wasn’t walking, but as if time itself was flowing beneath his feet, the mountains, rivers, sun, and moon all pushing him forward. The Dragon and Snake Coiling Shadow Bodhisattva had only just heard the footstep when his vision was covered by a large hand, its five fingers like hooks, locking onto his throat!

At this moment, only a single thought remained in his mind:

’What the fuck, it can do that?!’

It can’t just severely punish rule-breakers, it can also be used to empower oneself? How could such a completely unreasonable ideation even exist on a Fruit?

In this life-or-death moment, the Dragon and Snake Coiling Shadow Bodhisattva’s mind raced, searching for a countermeasure.

’The Chengyang Book... forget it. My own Innate Ability treasure has already defected to the enemy. If I bring it out, forget saving me, it’ll probably attack me instead!’

’Use my Fruit again?’

’No, at this distance, bringing out my Fruit would be like serving it up on a silver platter. Once my Fruit is taken by him, I’ll truly have no place to be buried.’

The only option now was—

KABOOM!

The next second, the Dragon and Snake Coiling Shadow Bodhisattva unhesitatingly detonated his own body. He was once again using the Golden Cicada Shell Escape Technique, blowing up his Golden Body in a desperate bid for survival.

But he quickly realized something was wrong.

His body below the neck had responded to his intention and exploded, but his head remained completely unresponsive, with only streams of fire flowing over it.

’It’s been Deprived?!’

The Dragon and Snake Coiling Shadow Bodhisattva opened his mouth and spat out a billow of fiery qi, but mixed within it was a streak of light. He had abandoned his head without a second thought!

His Soul escaped as a beam of light, but this triggered the rule [Those who flee in battle shall be severely punished]. The Celestial Fire erupted from within him, burning his Soul inside and out. Even worse, as an Outer Dao True Monarch, he had no Gold Attribute to protect him. Burned like this, his Soul actually began to show signs of dissipating!

’This is agony!’

The Dragon and Snake Coiling Shadow Bodhisattva lamented in his heart, but just then, Lü Yang, whose aura had been overwhelming, suddenly faltered. The Dharma Light surrounding him dimmed.

This single change was enough to rekindle hope in the Dragon and Snake Coiling Shadow Bodhisattva.

"Hm? Could it be..."

The intense, pleasant surprise was enough to jolt him from his hazy state of mind. He saw Lü Yang’s Qi trace begin to plummet—he was about to fall from his True Monarch Position!

’My chance has come!’

Although he had sacrificed his Golden Body and was left with only his Soul, he was still a Perfected Lord. Even with just a Soul, crushing a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator would take but a flick of his wrist!

The next second, however, he froze.

Because he saw Lü Yang calmly open his palm. There, floating in its center, were five streams of Gold Attribute, originating from the Five Dharma Appearances!

Each Dharma Appearance had a Gold Attribute.

After the Demon-Vanquishing Perfected slew the Five Dharma Appearances, these Gold Attributes had naturally fallen into Lü Yang’s hands. To his disappointment, however, these Gold Attributes were special.

Their essence seemed to be identical to the Dharma Gold Attribute the Centome had previously processed, which meant they couldn’t be processed a second time. At the time, this had nearly driven Lü Yang mad with frustration. He had only kept them so as not to be wasteful, but now, they had found their perfect use.

Thinking of this, Lü Yang immediately pointed a finger.

Deprive!

Just like that, the five Gold Attributes were Deprived by Lü Yang and then merged into the Hongyun Gold Attribute within his Yama Hall. He then used the ideation of the Fruit of Celestial Fire to smelt them together—

And then, the Dharma Light around Lü Yang’s body began to shine brightly once more.

The Hongyun Gold Attribute and the Dharma Gold Attribute, which should have been as incompatible as fire and water, were forcibly merged under the Mighty Power of the Fruit of Celestial Fire, replenishing the energy consumed by his Fake Holding!

"Looks like I can last a while longer."

After finishing all this, Lü Yang finally turned to look at the Dragon and Snake Coiling Shadow Bodhisattva, whose face was now a mask of despair. He smiled, revealing a mouthful of pearly white teeth.

"Senior, why have you stopped running?"

"Is it because you don’t want to?"