Proud Daughter of Heaven

Inside Blood Garment Pavilion, Skull Mountain Market.

Lu Yang had just withdrawn his consciousness from the Ten Thousand Spirit Banner when his vision suddenly went dark and his Spirit Platform clouded over. He frowned slightly, then looked toward the distant sky.

The next second, he rode a fleeing light to the edge of the marketplace.

A streak of Radiance shot in from the horizon, flying like fire and chasing lightning. It only drew in at the marketplace gates, where a tall woman of valiant bearing appeared.

"So it was a fellow cultivator from the Sword Pavilion."

Lu Yang had also cultivated the Divine Firmament Sword Control Art and recognized her origins at once. He cupped his hands in greeting. "I am Lu Yang. May I ask this fellow cultivator's name?"

"Yun Miaozhen of Jade Pivot."

The moment those words were spoken, Lu Yang narrowed his eyes. After all, Yun Miaozhen and Yun Miaoqing—those two names were far too similar not to invite association.

"Have you come to take your fellow disciple back?"

With that thought, Lu Yang did not hesitate in the slightest. With a casual gesture, he seized Yun Miaoqing from within Blood Garment Pavilion and tossed her before Yun Miaozhen.

"Miss Miaoqing has suffered no grievance in the Sacred Sect. Though she is nominally my Cauldron, I have never Plundered her over all these years, so she remains untouched. If you wish to take her back, please do as you please. Lu is of shallow cultivation and will not leave the formation to see you off."

In Lu Yang's view, he bore no grudge against the Sword Pavilion.

After all, he had not only preserved Yun Miaoqing's life, but also her chastity. As the Leader of the Righteous Path, Jade Pivot Sword Pavilion should not possibly make things difficult for him.

Yet he soon discovered that he had been wrong.

"Miaoqing... is still untouched?"

Yun Miaozhen lowered her beautiful eyes, her gaze falling on Yun Miaoqing. Yet rather than displaying the slightest joy, she revealed hints of disgust and helplessness.

The next moment, she heaved a long sigh.

"What a pity! Miaoqing, you will not be able to overcome this Tribulation!"

When those words fell, not only Lu Yang but even Yun Miaoqing herself was stunned. Her face was filled with disbelief. "Sister... what do you mean?"

"You did not receive the true teachings, so you do not understand."

Yun Miaozhen shook her head. "Your fortunes are meager. You were born with insufficient Destiny, yet you insisted on seeking Immortal fate. You were originally destined to face three calamities and nine trials; if you failed to overcome even one, you would immediately perish, your Dao extinguished. That was why I specifically begged Master to blend your three calamities and nine trials into a single great tribulation of ten years."

"This ten-year great tribulation was the ten years you spent trapped in the Demon Sect."

"If, during those ten years, you had endured every humiliation, with ten thousand men tasting your vermilion lips, yet still kept your Dao Heart firm and your resolve unshaken, this tribulation would have passed."

"What a pity... you are still untouched!"

"Untouched and unhumiliated, your tribulation naturally has not diminished in the slightest. It may even grow heavier!"

Having said that, Yun Miaozhen looked at Lu Yang, killing intent gleaming in her eyes. "This devil ruined your cultivation. He appears benevolent, but in truth harbors sinister designs. He must be executed!"

"..."

It had to be said, even Lu Yang was left dumbstruck.

Yun Miaoqing found it even more impossible to accept. Her lips trembled. "So, the reason I fell into the Demon Sect's hands all those years ago and became a Demon Sect Cauldron..."

"Was naturally all planned by my hand."

Yun Miaozhen nodded. "Otherwise, you would have had no hope of Foundation Establishment in this life. You are my blood sister, so naturally I had to consider your future. This was also for your own good."

The moment those words came out, Lu Yang was completely speechless.

Fuck your mother, there's a crazy bitch in the righteous path!

If Lu Yang had once held some yearning for Jade Pivot Sword Pavilion, the renowned Leader of the Righteous Path, then now all such thoughts had vanished.

Better to stay in the Sacred Sect for now.

The Sacred Sect Disciples were all such talented people. I fucking loved it here!

"Come. Return with me."

On the other side, Yun Miaozhen paid no attention whatsoever to Lu Yang's and Yun Miaoqing's expressions. She declared, "I will think of another way to help you pass this great tribulation."

"I won't!"

Faced with Yun Miaozhen's persuasion, Yun Miaoqing instinctively took a step back. She looked at her own blood sister as though she were looking at a stranger.

After all, she could never have imagined that her experience of falling into the Demon Sect's hands ten years ago—an experience that had nearly driven her to despair—had been orchestrated by her own blood sister. If she had not met Lu Yang and preserved both her life and chastity, she might already have been Plundered into medicinal dregs and died in some forgotten corner!

"...Be obedient."

Seeing Yun Miaoqing act this way, Yun Miaozhen's delicate brows furrowed slightly. "You have not studied great divine abilities, nor do you understand Karma. Naturally, it is difficult for you to comprehend my painstaking intentions."

"...Painstaking intentions?"

Yun Miaoqing retreated another step, resentment thick in her voice. "Setting a trap to throw me into the Demon Sect, letting others humiliate and Plunder me at will—is that your painstaking intention toward me?"

"I am merely following Karma and carrying out the Dao on Heaven's behalf. When you achieve success on the Immortal path in the future, you will naturally thank me."

Yun Miaozhen spoke calmly. In her eyes, there was nothing whatsoever improper about what she had done. Everything was only right and proper, an arrangement of Karma and Destiny.

Seeing that Yun Miaoqing still wanted to argue, she simply waved her hand. A streak of Radiance wrapped around Yun Miaoqing, knocked her unconscious, and casually tossed her to the side.

"When words do not meet, half a sentence is too much. I will not argue with you over this now."

Only after doing all that did she turn back to Lu Yang.

"Why is Fellow Cultivator Yun looking at me?" Lu Yang raised a brow.

Yun Miaozhen's beautiful eyes rested on him, her expression cold. She merely said, "You deliberately ruined Miaoqing's cultivation. I wish to borrow something of yours as compensation."

Lu Yang burst into hearty laughter. "You would not happen to be borrowing Lu's fine head, would you?"

His words dripped with mockery.

Yun Miaoqing nodded slightly. She was not angered, merely narrowing her phoenix eyes as chilling killing intent seeped forth. "It is fine if you refuse. Then do not blame me for exterminating demons and defending the Dao."

With that, she raised her fair hand!

In an instant, a beam of clear light illuminated a radius of ten miles. It was a crystal-clear Dharma Sword, shaped like glazed glass, its blade reflecting the mountains and rivers for ten miles around—

"You think I'm afraid of you?"

Lu Yang laughed proudly, then turned and leaped away. In the blink of an eye, he transformed into a fleeing light and hid within the marketplace, as the Hundred-Skeleton Return-to-Truth Formation and the Blood-Washing Heavenly River Sword Formation Map activated at once.

A hidden dragon lay in the abyss—who could kill me?

Yet Yun Miaozhen gave a cold smile. Without the slightest hesitation, she rose into the air as a fleeing light, crashing straight through the great formation and charging into the marketplace!

In an instant, countless gazes turned toward the marketplace from within and without.

With Ouyang Haoze's earlier example before them, everyone knew that the Blood Garment Pavilion Master was a Ninth Grade formation master. With a great formation under his command, he could be said to be invincible from the start.

Under such circumstances, where did Yun Miaozhen get the confidence to dare barge into the marketplace alone?

Almost simultaneously, several figures appeared outside the marketplace. Among them were Ouyang Feng, an elder of the Divine Martial Sect, and Luo Wuya, the Second Senior Brother of the Three Rivers Society.

However, the expressions of these two Qi Refining Great Perfection cultivators were both rather grave.

Their gazes were fixed on another direction of the marketplace, on the ordinary-looking middle-aged man who had arrived together with Yun Miaozhen.

"'Taiyi Sword' Yun Zhiqiu?"

Luo Wuya's face was solemn. Clearly, he was no stranger to the middle-aged man. "Skull Mountain is not in your Jiangnan. Jade Pivot Sword Pavilion is meddling far too broadly."

Yun Zhiqiu gave a light laugh. "My Jade Pivot Sword Pavilion concerns itself only with protecting the righteous path, and the righteous path knows no regional boundaries."

"What lofty words!"

Luo Wuya was angered into laughter by those words. "You should first pray that your little junior sister can come out alive."

Yun Zhiqiu glanced at Lu Yang and Yun Miaozhen, then shook his head. "As expected of the Demon Sect. They only know such disgraceful tricks that cannot be brought before the court."

"Yet how can heretic paths contend against the divine abilities of our orthodox Dao?"

Before his words had faded, Yun Miaozhen inside the marketplace formed a Hand Seal and pointed. The Glazed Dharma Sword she had unleashed immediately bloomed with dazzling Radiance.

"That is..."

Seeing this, Luo Wuya and Ouyang Feng seemed to realize something, and their expressions changed drastically. "The Heavenly Escape Sword!? This woman actually possesses such a precious treasure?"

The next second, Sword Light blanketed heaven and earth.

Lu Yang activated the formations, yet whether it was the Hundred-Skeleton Return-to-Truth Formation or the Blood-Washing Heavenly River Sword Formation Map, both were treated as though they did not exist as that Sword Light passed through them.

BOOM!

When the Sword Light dissipated, only the two still-operating great formations remained in the marketplace. Yet there was no one within them, only a Glazed Dharma Sword hanging high in the sky!