"Xinhuo Dynasty?" Immortal Ying Tian furrowed his brows. He had never heard of such a dynasty.
Lu Yang spoke in an unhurried manner, "In the ancient era, the Four Ancient Celestials refined the stars into a continent, and then, using their supreme immortal might, condensed the power of faith to establish the Xinhuo Dynasty. It was a true immortal dynasty, whose strength far surpassed that of the later Great Qian, Great Yu, and Great Xia."
"Within the Xinhuo Dynasty, there were two major organizations: the Heavenly Court and the Netherworld. The Heavenly Court oversaw affairs of the living realm, while the Netherworld oversaw affairs of the underworld."
"The Heavenly Court was supreme and omnipotent, governing all under heaven. In the realm of the living, mortal and immortal alike, regardless of cultivation, all had to abide by the heavenly laws and immortal regulations."
"The master of the Heavenly Court was none of the Four Ancient Celestials. She was a peerless female immortal from the ancient era who had fallen, breached the pass of reincarnation, defied the great law of life and death, and condensed a supreme immortal body through the power of faith. She returned from the dead in formidable glory as the Lord of the Heavenly Court."
"A resurrected Lord of the Heavenly Court? Somewhat interesting." Immortal Ying Tian gave a slight smile. At the same time, he pondered the clues concealed within Lu Yang's tale, wondering where Immortal Ying Tian's place of inheritance was actually located.
Could he be hinting that the inheritance lay at the boundary between Yin and Yang?
What places nowadays were connected to Yin and Yang?
Lu Yang continued, "The Lord of the Heavenly Court wielded power capable of destroying heaven and earth. She could annihilate the world and reduce all things to oneness. Even Immortal Ying Tian and the others had to bow their heads and admit defeat."
"...Then one day, for reasons unknown, the Lord of the Heavenly Court went mad. She sought to destroy the Heavenly Court, destroy the Netherworld, and destroy the vast Xinhuo Dynasty."
"The Four Ancient Celestials, along with Immortal Zuo Shi, who had achieved immortality during the Xinhuo Dynasty—five immortals in total—stepped forward to stop her. Yet nobody anticipated that Immortal Suiyue would suddenly drop dead, with no one knowing who struck the blow."
"The remaining four immortals ceased cooperating and fought on their own, never proving a match for the Lord of the Heavenly Court."
"Immortal Kirin was even severely wounded fighting her to protect the Dragon Clan Ancient Ancestor."
"Immortal Ying Tian engaged the Lord of the Heavenly Court in battle..." Lu Yang paused here.
"What was the outcome of the battle!" Immortal Ying Tian asked hastily. He felt this was the crucial information regarding the place of inheritance.
"Indeed, what was the outcome?" Lu Yang smiled slightly, deliberately countering with a question.
Only he could hear the Immortal Fairy shouting in his ear:
"Little Yangzi, someone's here!"
Seeing Lu Yang deliberately keeping him in suspense, Immortal Ying Tian couldn't help but feel slighted. Just as he was about to strike, an inexplicable sense of crisis suddenly gripped his heart.
He jerked his head up and saw a pitch-black pillar of light descending from the sky. Carrying world-ending destructive power, it pierced straight through the Qiankun Shroud.
After piercing the Qiankun Shroud, the pitch-black pillar showed no sign of stopping and plunged straight down.
And directly below it were Immortal Ying Tian and Lu Yang!
A delighted smile gradually surfaced on Lu Yang's face. Looking at Immortal Ying Tian with disdain, he murmured softly, "Farewell, fool."
Immortal Ying Tian had intended to lash out and kill Lu Yang, but he had no leisure to care about that now. The apocalyptic strike from above had caught him completely off guard, and he had to resist it with all his might!
"Little Yangzi, get in!" The Immortal Fairy pulled Lu Yang straight into the small world of the Green Blade Sword.
Boom!
The pitch-black pillar crashed down, annihilating heaven and earth. Wherever it passed, all things were silenced into nothingness. It smashed directly into Immortal Ying Tian, slamming him into the depths of the earth—piercing who knew how many thousands of li—and carving out a bottomless crater!
Above Immortal Ying Tian's head, a golden helmet materialized. The helmet had been punctured, its pierced edges charred black as terrifying power of annihilation constantly spread, corroding the helmet.
In the blink of an eye, the golden helmet was reduced to nothingness, vanishing entirely.
This was an unforeseen upheaval that caught everyone off guard. No one knew where this terrifying attack had come from, nor why it had targeted Immortal Ying Tian.
"Could Lu Yang... still be alive after an attack like that?" a sword cultivator murmured to himself.
Everyone fell silent. An attack of this scale would likely claim the life of even someone at the Tribulation Transcendence stage, let alone Lu Yang, who was merely at the Soul Formation stage.
Panting heavily, Immortal Ying Tian flew up from the deep crater. His tiger-like eyes bulged wide as he glared straight up and bellowed, "Who are you!"
Above the Qiankun Shroud, a figure shrouded in gray mist appeared. Her features were indiscernible, and her voice was aloof and merciless, like a high-and-mighty heaven casually deciding the life and death of living beings.
"Those who know my identity shall die."
Immortal Ying Tian, who had been seething with fury, froze for a moment. Who the hell are you? When did I ever know you? If I knew who you were, would I even ask who you are?
A barrage of questions sprang up in his mind, none of them answered.
"Good, good, good! You think you're impressive just because you managed to ambush me once? I'll show you what seeking death means!"
He was both alarmed and enraged. Alarmed that if he hadn't suddenly summoned the golden helmet, that single strike might have ended his life; enraged that the other party was completely unreasonable, ambushing him without any cause.
"Hundred-Refined Overlord Halberd!"
"Heaven-Reaching Chainmail!"
"Soul-Severing Immortal Spear!"
Immortal Ying Tian brought out immortal artifacts one after another. Lacking a Dao fruit, he made up for his deficiencies with sheer quantity of immortal artifacts. These were originally prepared to deal with the true Immortal Ying Tian, and now they would serve just fine against this insolent Gray Mist Immortal!
Looking at Immortal Ying Tian clad head to toe in armaments, Gray Doudou curled her lips in a sneer.
"Foolish. Laughable."
Though she didn't know what connection this Immortal Ying Tian had to the real one, it didn't matter. Anyone who knew of her existence had to die.
As for that little fellow who had spread word of her existence, he had hidden who knew where; she couldn't sense him at all. Truly strange.
"Lu Yang!"
The sword cultivators and Yun Mengmeng rushed to search for Lu Yang.
Hidden within the small world of the Green Blade Sword, Lu Yang let out a sigh of relief. He slumped onto the ground, panting from exhaustion. Watching Gray Doudou utterly overpower Immortal Ying Tian outside, a relieved smile spread across his face.
"She's finally here."
"As expected, she can't find this place."
Recalling the process of how he and Ao Ling had been targeted by Gray Doudou, Lu Yang had roughly worked out the pattern of her pursuit.
Back then, when he and Ao Ling stayed inside the dragon pearl for several days, Gray Doudou had never made a move. Only shortly after they left the dragon pearl did she appear.
This proved that a small world could block Gray Doudou's perception.
And his Green Blade Sword possessed a small world.
"Thank goodness for the Green Blade Sword."
If not for the Green Blade Sword, he would never have survived that terrifying gray beam.
If he were still out there now, Gray Doudou might well have flicked a finger and extinguished his life in the middle of her fight.
In truth, how could he possibly know the location of any inheritance? If he knew, he would have gone there long ago.
Lu Yang had only concocted an excuse so Immortal Ying Tian would calm down and listen to his story about Gray Doudou.
After all, it took time for Gray Doudou to arrive. Not only did he need to inform Immortal Ying Tian of Gray Doudou's existence, but he also had to stall him as long as possible.
He had used the inheritance as bait because he was certain this Immortal Ying Tian was desperate to find the true Immortal Ying Tian. Only by locating and killing the real Immortal Ying Tian could this one obtain the Tribulation Responding Dao fruit.
Considering that Gray Doudou killed anyone who learned of her existence, Lu Yang could under no circumstances allow anyone else to hear their conversation.
"Immortal Ying Tian, hang in there. You'd better last as long as you can."
Lu Yang silently offered a prayer for Immortal Ying Tian.
Chapter 997