Chapter 427: The Powerful Huang Ming

Once the true sequence of events was brought to light, Lu Yang and his two fellow disciples remained in place, while Zhao Po led the living corpse to Baishui Village, successfully apprehending Liu San just as he was packing his belongings to flee.

Corpse drivers held a distinct status within the desolate province of Huangzhou, and as the most orthodox practitioner of the craft, Zhao Po was the perfect candidate for the capture, encountering few obstacles or skeptical eyes.

"Hey, hey, hey! What do you think you're doing?"

Lu Yang displayed a textbook smile that bared eight perfectly white teeth. "Sending you to the magistrate's office."

"I already told you, I didn't kill anyone!"

"Who ever said only murder warrants punishment? Insurance fraud is a crime as well. Not to mention, you turned a fresh pond into saltwater and choked all the fish to death—charging you with environmental destruction wouldn't wrong you in the slightest!"

"Does your Great Xia Empire convict even ghosts?"

Lu Yang’s smile swelled with pride. "Never mind ghosts, even the Sect Master of the Daoist Sect and the Minister of Justice are thrown into the grand dungeons if they break the law!"

Zhao Po gasped in astonishment; he had never heard of such a thing.

Did the five great immortal sects not possess independent law enforcement rights? How could their leaders be arrested?

The Minister of Justice understood the law best, yet he knowingly violated it?

Was this a hidden secret known only to the elite disciples of the immortal sects?

Meng Jingzhou and Mangu also stared at Lu Yang in utter amazement; neither of them had any inkling of this matter.

Aside from the Emperor of Xia, the entire Ministry of Justice, and the Eldest Senior Sister, Lu Yang was the only living soul who knew.

"Convict them? Junior Brother Zhao Po, is this how you complete the mission entrusted to you by our sect?"

A cold, detached voice drifted down from above. A figure was suspended in midair, his expression arrogant, flanked by a living corpse heavily shrouded in black robes.

"Senior Brother Huang Ming?" At a single glance, Zhao Po recognized the man who had defeated him to claim the title of the sect's foremost disciple.

Huang Ming and his living corpse slowly descended, his gaze resting upon Zhao Po with marked displeasure. "The sect's mandate explicitly requires the absolute eradication of all ghostly entities. Why are you sparing his life? If you lack the stomach for slaughter, let your Senior Brother handle it on your behalf!"

As he spoke, he abruptly produced a Soul-Dissipating Talisman, intending to strike the drowned ghost.

Zhao Po's reflexes were swifter; he took a wide step forward, shielding the drowned ghost with his own body and leaving Huang Ming no opening to strike.

"Even spirits are divided into good and evil. This drowned ghost has committed no heinous atrocities; his offense does not merit death!"

"Absurd! I care nothing for the morality of ghosts; I only know that our sect's order is to eliminate all phantom plagues!"

Huang Ming narrowed his eyes slightly. "Zhao Po, are you intent on obstructing me?"

Seeing an imminent clash, Lu Yang stepped between the two. "Fellow Daoist, you are disciples of the same sect. There is no need to make things so tense, is there?"

Huang Ming remained unmoved. "And who might you be?"

"Lu Yang of the Daoist Sect."

Huang Ming let out a cold sneer. "And here I wondered who it was. So it is the Daoist Sect disciple who supposedly overcame the strong while being weak at the Qingzhou Grand Festival. What, does someone from the Daoist Sect intend to meddle in the internal affairs of our Corpse-Driving Sect as well?"

"When a Senior Brother disciplines his Junior Brother, what right does an outsider like you have to chip in?"

Hearing Huang Ming's dismissive words, Mangu’s temper flared instantly, only to be held back by Meng Jingzhou.

Meng Jingzhou sensed that this man named Huang Ming harbored a distinct animosity toward them.

Lu Yang’s expression did not waver, maintaining that same amiable, good-natured smile.

"We captured this drowned ghost, so naturally, it is ours to dispose of as we please. On the contrary, for a fellow Daoist to suddenly appear and pluck the fruits of our labor seems rather ill-mannered, does it not?"

"Heh, relying on four Golden Core cultivators working together just to capture a drowned ghost at the mid-Nascent Soul stage—and you have the audacity to speak of it proudly? Were it me, I alone would suffice! Some hail you as the foremost of our generation, but from what I see, you are nothing special."

Lu Yang's smile did not diminish. "Oh, is that so? It seems fellow Daoist possesses immense confidence in his own cultivation."

"A simple test will tell."

Before his words had fully faded, Lu Yang unleashed the Arhat Fist, a heavy strike hurtling toward Huang Ming.

Clang—

The living corpse was a step ahead, resembling a towering iron pagoda as it crossed its arms, blocking Lu Yang’s fist head-on.

Lu Yang felt a brief flash of surprise; although this Arhat Fist carried nowhere near his full strength, it was not something an ordinary early Golden Core cultivator should be able to withstand.

The living corpse roared, its muscle mass swelling as it lunged forward to grapple Lu Yang.

Refusing to match brute force with the corpse, Lu Yang stamped his right foot against the earth. His body instantly sank into the ground, vanishing only to reappear directly behind Huang Ming!

Rather than tangling with the puppet, it was far more efficient to target the master!

"Arhat Fist!"

"Underworld Palm!"

As though he had anticipated Lu Yang’s every movement, Huang Ming gathered energy in his palm and spun around to deliver a counterstrike.

Fist and palm collided, sending ripples of shockwaves through the air. Neither could fully absorb the immense force of the impact, forcing both to retreat simultaneously. The residual energies of the fist and palm rampaged within their respective bodies; both made the identical choice to slap the air behind them, expelling the chaotic forces outward.

Lu Yang narrowed his eyes, a grin of genuine amusement spreading across his face. This was the first time he had encountered a peer with such incredibly rich combat experience.

"How is this possible!" Zhao Po watched the exchange in utter disbelief. The physical constitutions of corpse drivers were traditionally below average, and having witnessed Lu Yang’s fist techniques before, he was shocked that Senior Brother Huang Ming could trade palm strikes with him on equal footing.

"You are not at the early Golden Core stage, are you? You are at the mid-Golden Core stage," Lu Yang remarked with a smile, recalling Zhao Po’s earlier assertion that both he and Huang Ming were merely at the early Golden Core stage.

"What makes you say that?"

"That fist of mine carried a full ten tenths of my strength. If an early Golden Core cultivator could block it, my entire cultivation would have been in vain."

Huang Ming gave a cold snort, offering no reply.

He had not expected Lu Yang to be so troublesome—or rather, so formidable.

"My hair!"

Just as Huang Ming was about to unleash his next technique, strands of his hair began to drift downward like falling snow.

"The Unity of Fist and Intent?!" Huang Ming made a swift assessment, astonished that anyone at the Golden Core stage could achieve such a profound level of mastery.

He cared nothing for his severed hair; he cared only for Lu Yang's terrifying latent talent.

"What is the Unity of Fist and Intent?" Zhao Po asked, his face a mask of bewilderment, completely unfamiliar with the concept.

Meng Jingzhou kept his eyes locked onto Huang Ming, his brows furrowed tightly as he remained silent.

Setting combat experience aside, the sheer depth of knowledge this Huang Ming possessed did not seem like something the Corpse-Driving Sect could cultivate, let alone for someone who had only recently been taken in as a disciple by Sect Master Lu.

Where exactly did this vast store of knowledge originate?

Boom—

The two clashed once more, erupting with an aura that completely transcended their current realm. Lu Yang attacked with the Samadhi True Fire, while Huang Ming countered with the Dingmao True Fire. The temperature spiked instantly, forcing the drowned ghost to retreat backward in rapid succession.

"The True Fire of the Six Ding and Six Jia!" Zhao Po cried out in shock. Among the one hundred and eight varieties of True Fire, twelve constituted a supreme category collectively known as the True Fire of the Six Ding and Six Jia, and the Dingmao True Fire was precisely one of those twelve!

Whether it was the Underworld Palm capable of rivaling Lu Yang or this Dingmao True Fire, Huang Ming had displayed neither during the sect's grand tournament.

Zhao Po had always known that Huang Ming had held back during the tournament, but he had assumed the hidden trump cards lay with the living corpse; he had never imagined that Huang Ming himself possessed such hidden depths.

Lu Yang grew increasingly intrigued by Huang Ming's background; the disparity between this first-ranked disciple and the second-ranked disciple of the Corpse-Driving Sect was a vast chasm.

Aside from the geniuses of the five great immortal sects, Lu Yang had never encountered an outsider capable of trading blows with him to this extent.

The battle grew progressively fiercer as the two unleashed a barrage of Daoist methods and divine abilities. Fists and palms clashed violently, accompanied by the rumbling of thunder as they traded blows repeatedly without a clear victor.

Gradually, however, the tide began to turn. Lu Yang’s foundation was far more solid, his spiritual rhythm deep and enduring. When it came to a war of attrition, no one within the same realm could ever hope to outlast Lu Yang!

Huang Ming flew into a furious rage; never since his debut had he tasted defeat, and he could not bear the thought that today would be his undoing.

Absolutely not!

His eyes burned with tiger-like ferocity, majestic and awe-inspiring, as an invisible force of spiritual energy coalesced into a piercing arrow and shot straight toward Lu Yang!

Yet Lu Yang's spiritual power was immensely formidable, to say nothing of the Immortal Fairy residing within his spiritual realm; if it came to a contest of soul-force, he would not flinch even if a master of the Tribulation Transmutation Stage stood before him!

A small shield materialized at the center of Lu Yang's brow, effortlessly deflecting the arrow.

The Immortal Fairy suddenly came to a realization: "I see it now—he is no contemporary of yours, but a great cultivator who dispersed his cultivation to begin anew!"