Lu Yang wiped the tea from his face and looked innocently at the Great Elder. "Great Elder, what happened to you?"
The Great Elder stared at Lu Yang as if looking at a ghost, wondering if his old age had finally dulled his hearing.
He had lived for more than two thousand years. As the eldest brother among the Nine Sons of the Dao Seeking Sect and a half-step Tribulation Transcendence powerhouse, this was the first time in his life he had encountered something like this.
As far as he knew, only Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou had traveled to Huangzhou, along with that dragon horse Great Demon King at most.
Never mind a lineup like that—even if they were ten times stronger, capturing the souls of three Tribulation Transcendence experts would still be an utter impossibility.
"Who did you say you captured?"
"Wu Youdao, Venerable Xuanlei, and Venerable Wuji," Lu Yang counted them off on his fingers.
The Great Elder sucked in a sharp breath, nearly choking on his tea. All three of those individuals were renowned Tribulation Transcendence cultivators from the Great Yu Dynasty—especially Wu Youdao, who had been born with the imperial countenance of a dragon and tiger, a figure constantly extolled by Great Yu's historians.
"Old Horse galloped fast, so we arrived ahead of everyone else. Word probably hasn't reached here yet. Great Elder, you have no idea how dangerous this trip to Huangzhou was! We nearly threw our lives away out there. It was truly peril at every turn!"
The Great Elder eyed Lu Yang askance. *Does your idea of 'peril at every turn' mean capturing all three of them?*
"First, you explain clearly to me: how the hell did you capture three Tribulation Transcendence cultivators?"
Lu Yang leaned in conspiratorially. "Great Elder, there are no outsiders here, and we're all members of the Heavenly Court Cult. I won't hide it from you. Our Heavenly Court Cult is blessed with a mighty figure—the Master of the Ancient Heavenly Court, the Supreme Grand Heavenly Venerable, Dou Tianzun!
"I was able to capture these three Tribulation Transcendence cultivators entirely thanks to Dou Tianzun stepping in to help!"
The Great Elder froze for a moment, then broke into a knowing smile.
It seemed that girl Yun Zhi had intervened.
Although Junior Niece Yun's role in the Heavenly Court Cult was that of Cult Master, that hardly prevented her from holding multiple identities.
For instance, she was both the Eldest Senior Sister among the disciples and the Acting Sect Master.
"Fine, fine. Since it involves Junior Niece Yun, go talk to her about it."
The Great Elder tossed Lu Yang out of the Mission Hall.
Lu Yang shook his head helplessly and said to the Immortal Fairy, "See, what did I tell you? We definitely have to run this by Eldest Senior Sister. You actually thought you could bypass her and exchange them directly at the Mission Hall for contribution points? Utterly impossible."
"Fine..." the Immortal Fairy grumbled, crestfallen.
Just as Qiu Jin'an had said, Eldest Senior Sister had already completed their master's release procedures from prison and returned to the sect.
When Lu Yang returned to Tianmen Peak, Eldest Senior Sister sat at the mountain summit with the same otherworldly poise as always. Countless stars seemed to swirl within her pupils, unfathomable and profound.
Even gazing at her from afar radiated an immense, suffocating pressure.
Wu Youdao and the other two felt their scalps turn numb at the sight. Lu Yang couldn't comprehend what this vision signified, but as Tribulation Transcendence cultivators, they knew all too well what it meant.
And it was precisely because they knew that dread welled up from the depths of their hearts.
During the Great Yu era, the stars in the sky had been mere afterimages left behind from ancient antiquity; true stars were practically nonexistent.
For that very reason, when Wu Youdao and the others awoke from their slumber, they had quickly noticed the anomaly in the night sky.
Stars that had once been hollow afterimages had quietly been filled back in by someone, completely undocumented by history.
What kind of monumental might was this?
What realm of existence could possibly accomplish such a feat?
They had constantly wondered who was responsible for restoring brilliance to the heavens, and now they finally had their answer.
They would have preferred never knowing.
"Eldest Senior Sister, I'm back," Lu Yang said, behaving with absolute deference before her.
"What did he just call this immortal? Eldest Senior Sister?!" Venerable Xuanlei cried out, completely losing his composure.
The other two reacted with similar shock. This woman was actually Lu Yang's Eldest Senior Sister?!
Then just how terrifyingly powerful must Lu Yang's master be?!
What a frightening place the Dao Seeking Sect was!
"You're back?" Eldest Senior Sister rose to her feet. The stars within her cool gaze vanished in an instant, as if they had never been there at all. Her clear, dark eyes rested quietly on Lu Yang.
"What is the story behind these three Tribulation Transcendence cultivators inside you?" With a casual glance, Eldest Senior Sister saw right into Lu Yang's bustling spiritual space.
"Alright, out you come!" The Immortal Fairy hoisted the three of them out.
In her hands, the three Tribulation Transcendence cultivators were no different from helpless little chicks.
"Their foundations are rather mediocre; they would struggle to attain immortality. Explain what happened."
Eldest Senior Sister was familiar with every current Tribulation Transcendence cultivator in the world, having visited them all to exchange pointers. She recognized none of these three, which meant they were ancient cultivators.
In her eyes, their foundations were utterly ordinary, incapable of ascending to immortality.
Lu Yang gave an appropriately balanced account, glossing over his romantic misadventures. He simply explained that he had gone to the Corpse Driving Sect, discovered Hanshui City was plagued by ghosts, and while slaying ghosts had encountered Huang Ming—a Great Yu Body Integration cultivator who had dispersed his cultivation to cultivate anew. Then True Monarch Mengtian had stepped in, and Qiu Jin'an had come to their rescue.
"True Monarch Mengtian and Huang Ming escaped, and we never managed to catch them. Then this Wu Youdao showed up, acting as though their plot had leaked and he had to launch their plan ahead of schedule."
Wu Youdao was speechless.
*So you lot weren't the ones who caught True Monarch Mengtian and Huang Ming after all!*
Venerable Xuanlei and Venerable Wuji shot resentful glares at Wu Youdao. *Why did you have to jump out in such a hurry?!*
Their original plan had been to wait until Venerable Wuji completed his tribulation, activate the grand formation, and seize the power of national destiny.
Though in truth, even if they had followed that plan, the outcome would still have been the Immortal Fairy borrowing the power of national destiny to thrash the three of them into submission.
Lu Yang then recounted the battle between Wu Youdao's faction and Provincial Governor Lü's side, emphasizing how Sect Master Lu had been possessed, and mentioning that the man in the white paper hat who had stepped in to help was suspected to be the Nine Nether Cult Master.
"Possessed Sect Master Lu?" Eldest Senior Sister's eyes narrowed slightly, causing ripples to spread through the surrounding space. Venerable Wuji's soul trembled violently, as if pinned down by a horrifying cosmic entity from which there was no escape.
When Eldest Senior Sister had visited the Corpse Driving Sect for study and exchange in the past, her main purpose had been to consult Sect Master Lu regarding the corpse-driving art.
"Sect Master Lu's soul lamp never extinguished. It seems you took that into account and refrained from completely destroying his soul. Even so, this remains unforgivable."
Eldest Senior Sister took a step forward and pressed her palm down coldly on the crown of Venerable Wuji's head. Venerable Wuji let out a bloodcurdling shriek of agony, as though his three hun and seven po were being forcibly ripped apart, his consciousness dissolving at rapid speed.
"Where did you all go? Why can't I see anything?!" Venerable Wuji's vision went black. He flailed his arms and staggered blindly, completely unable to see.
"Wuji, you..." Venerable Xuanlei started to speak, wanting to say that they hadn't vanished, but rather that he had lost all sensory perception of the outside world.
"Is someone talking? Speak louder! I can't hear you!" Venerable Wuji had lost his hearing as well.
As his consciousness continued to unravel, Venerable Wuji's mouth opened and closed without producing a sound, and he collapsed to the ground with a thud.
His soul was cleansed entirely clean. From this moment on, the person known as Venerable Wuji ceased to exist in this world.
"Use him as an artifact spirit." Eldest Senior Sister cast Venerable Wuji aside and turned her gaze toward the shivering Wu Youdao and Venerable Xuanlei.
A Tribulation Transcendence artifact spirit... Not even all Tribulation Transcendence grade dharma treasures possessed an artifact spirit so formidable.
For a cultivator's soul to be refined into an artifact spirit, the grimness of that fate was second only to total soul destruction.
"If either of you conceals anything, you will be refined into artifact spirits as well."
Chapter 449