Lu Yang had three trump cards that he would not use lightly.
The first was Eldest Senior Sister Imitation Fist, which summoned Eldest Senior Sister.
The second was spirit mediumship, inviting the Immortal Fairy to possess his body.
The third was the Invincible Core, which could formulate a plan for victory.
Using any one of these three trump cards would deal a fatal blow to any cultivator of the same realm.
Only if an opponent was far too powerful, or if they pulled dirty tricks first, would Lu Yang reveal one of his trump cards.
Kong Hao belonged to the latter.
The power Kong Hao unleashed clearly did not belong to him. Lu Yang figured there was a powerful soul entity residing within him. Lu Yang was all too familiar with this trope—he had one in his own body, after all.
This made it impossible to fight fair.
That powerful soul entity was at the Body Integration stage at the very least. Lu Yang had no chance in hell fighting someone like that head-on.
He decisively consulted the Invincible Core. The answer it provided was crystal clear—exactly as he had expected: report him to the referee.
"Is this the so-called genius, borrowing external power to fight me?" Young Cult Master Lu sneered. "If you aren't going to step in, then I also have dharma treasures bestowed upon me by the Cult Master and my master. Not even a Tribulation Transcendence stage cultivator could withstand a single blow from them.
"Considering that those treasures far exceed regulations, I refrained from using them in battle. But if Kong Hao doesn't follow the rules, then I won't bother holding back either."
When the referee heard Lu Yang's report, he froze in surprise, momentarily at a loss. No matter how well-traveled and experienced he was, he had never seen anyone fighting by borrowing the power of another soul inside their body.
Hearing Lu Yang's words, he realized there was indeed something wrong with Kong Hao's power—it did not belong to him.
This was naturally a foul.
"The loser: Kong Hao."
Just as Kong Hao was about to fight with his newfound power, he heard the referee declare the outcome, leaving him to dejectedly step down from the stage.
The moment he stepped down, the first to greet him was not the Waterfall Sect Master, but old ancestors of the Tribulation Transcendence stage from all sides.
"Out of the way, all of you! Let me see who's hiding inside this kid's body!"
"The Body Seizure Law was drafted by me! I'm an expert in this field—let me go first!"
"My cultivation is the highest! Let me do it!"
The Waterfall Sect Master wished to step forward, but he had long been shoved to the back by this crowd of big shots.
"This aura feels like one of the Four Perils," Venerable Yiqi, who was most sensitive to auras, was the first to make a judgment.
"Kid, don't resist. I'm going into your spiritual platform to take a look."
With that, a miniature figure flew out of Venerable Yiqi's spiritual platform and plunged into Kong Hao's.
"Whoa, it's a big fellow."
Kong Hao's spiritual platform was far larger than those of peers at the same cultivation stage. This was not the result of cultivation, but rather stretched open by the colossal beast inside him.
Iron bars divided the spiritual platform in two; the smaller portion was Kong Hao's domain, while the larger portion was where the behemoth was sealed.
The iron bars were reinforced with nine layers of seals, utterly unbreakable. The colossal creature was glaring fixedly at Venerable Yiqi, an imperceptible trace of terror flickering in its beastly eyes.
The gargantuan beast was a male lion the size of a small hill. Its mane was long and snow-white, resembling drifting snowflakes that rose and fell with each breath. Two upward-curving fangs looked like a pair of gleaming broadswords, and its tail was as long as its entire body.
"So it's an old Taowu."
Venerable Yiqi sneered. This old Taowu was no simple creature; with Tribulation Transcendence stage cultivation, it possessed enough strength to serve as patriarch of the Taowu clan, yet for some reason, it had ended up sealed here.
"Isn't this Ji Xiong? I thought you were killed after failing the bid for patriarch. Who would have thought you were in here?"
More Tribulation Transcendence experts flew into Kong Hao's spiritual platform one after another. Since Tribulation Transcendence cultivators were so rare, someone soon recognized the old Taowu's identity.
Kong Hao had never seen so many Tribulation Transcendence masters in his entire life.
When he learned the old Taowu's cultivation stage and identity, his heart lurched in shock.
He had assumed the old Taowu was at the Body Integration stage, never imagining it was actually at the terrifying Tribulation Transcendence stage.
An orphan with neither father nor mother, the old Taowu had resided inside him ever since he could remember, sealed by unknown hands.
Kong Hao had never dared reveal the existence of the old Taowu, fearing that powerful experts might covet it and target him. That was precisely why he had joined the Waterfall Sect, which was obscure even among second-rank sects.
To his dismay, the secret had been exposed after all.
How would these mighty experts treat him?
Expecting the old Taowu to speak the truth was out of the question. The Tribulation Transcendence old ancestors questioned Kong Hao about everything he knew, and pieced together the general sequence of events based on their own recollections regarding the old Taowu:
After failing in its bid for patriarch, the old Taowu had been hunted down, its physical body destroyed, and its soul damaged. Fleeing all the way into Great Xia territory, a peak Body Integration cultivator adept in sealing arts had sealed the old Taowu inside Kong Hao's body.
Judging by the nature of the seal, that peak Body Integration cultivator harbored benevolent intentions toward Kong Hao. As long as Kong Hao continued to grow stronger, he would be able to unravel the seal layer by layer and tap into the old Taowu's power.
"You have two choices," Venerable Yiqi offered Kong Hao.
"Unravel the seal, and we will take action to capture the old Taowu. In return, we will provide you with fitting compensation—heavenly treasures, spirit treasures, pills, everything you could want—effectively buying it from you. This is the safest approach."
It was true that a Tribulation Transcendence stage old Taowu was difficult to deal with, but who among those present wasn't also at the Tribulation Transcendence stage? If they swarmed it together, the old Taowu would have no choice but to take a beating obediently.
"Or you can keep the old Taowu sealed and unseal it layer by layer as your strength grows. However, throughout that process, you will run the risk of backlash.
"Which one do you choose?"
***
While the crowd of Tribulation Transcendence experts observed the old Taowu like a rare exotic animal, the tournament proceeded in an orderly manner.
Fearing that Meng Jingzhou would unleash his Bachelor Curse Fist, Lan Ting fought timidly and cautiously, and was ultimately defeated by him.
Meng Jingzhou secured a spot in the finals.
Following his master's teachings, Yan Tianzhi fought with all his might upon encountering someone from the Five Elements Sect, defeating Bai Ming to advance smoothly into the semifinals.
"Prison Suppressing Sect, Yan Tianzhi."
"Heavenly Court Cult, Young Cult Master."
Lu Yang and Yan Tianzhi clashed in the semifinals.
Behind Yan Tianzhi, a Taotie war tattoo and an Azure Dragon war tattoo flickered, the phantom silhouettes of the two demon beasts looming with immense pressure.
This was the Prison Suppressing Sect's unique war tattoo cultivation method, a technique created solely by the sect's founding ancestor.
Seeing the two great war tattoos, Lu Yang clapped in praise. "At last, an interesting opponent. I had long heard that the Prison Suppressing Sect's war tattoo system is peerless, earning high praise even from our Cult Master. Seeing it today, it truly lives up to its reputation.
"In ancient times, our human race had the custom of painting patterns upon our faces. Painted properly, these patterns granted boundless strength, serving as humanity's earliest method for coping with floods and ferocious beasts. The Cult Master assumed these patterns had been lost to time, never expecting that in this new era, someone would innovate upon them and pioneer the war tattoo cultivation method.
"The Cult Master said that whoever founded this cultivation method was a genius of tremendous talent. Alas, they were born at the wrong time, during the transition between Great Yu and Great Xia. Had they lived in the ancient era, they certainly could have vied for the fruits of immortality, seized a glorious future, and resounded their name throughout the ages!"
Lu Yang sighed with lingering sentiment, as if savoring the Cult Master's high praise for the founding ancestor of the Prison Suppressing Sect.
In the judges' seats, Qiu Jin'an and Luo Hongxia stared at Yang Ding in astonishment.
They hadn't agreed to this scene beforehand—this kid Lu Yang was praising the Prison Suppressing Sect's founder to high heaven!
Yang Ding scratched his head awkwardly. "Well, I just wanted to seize the chance to promote our Prison Suppressing Sect a bit, you know?"
Chapter 497