Chapter 429: Huang Ming's Identity

Huang Ming was a formidable master of the Integration Stage who had dispersed his cultivation to begin anew; in over two thousand years of roaming the cultivation world, this was the first time he had witnessed someone at the Golden Core Stage capable of executing a cloning technique.

Moreover, it was a cloning technique manifested in such a bizarre fashion.

Before Huang Ming could fully comprehend it, the twin blades of Azure Edge and Abyssal Moon lunged forth like a pair of flood dragons roaming the Eastern Sea, howling through the air and bringing with them a tempest of blood and gore.

Lu Yang was uncertain whether the living corpse would simply reconstitute itself if severed again; rather than gambling on an uncertainty, it was far better to strike directly at Huang Ming.

He refused to believe that Huang Ming possessed the same regenerative properties as that walking corpse.

Huang Ming frantically maneuvered the living corpse to attack, prompting Lu Yang to order his clone to intercept it with the Abyssal Moon sword while he engaged Huang Ming in single combat.

The two sides were locked in a stalemate once more, but Huang Ming quickly discovered his own disadvantage.

Lu Yang’s spiritual perception surpassed his own, granting him far greater precision in controlling the clone, and in the clash between corpse and clone, the corpse was steadily driven back.

Once the clone secured victory, he would be forced into the dire predicament of facing two opponents alone.

Lu Yang’s soft laughter echoed beside Huang Ming’s ear, startling him into a cold sweat.

"Do you truly not understand that one must never lose focus during a battle? Break!"

Lu Yang unleashed the Break Incantation, sending sword qi surging violently into the heavens, a brilliant radiance of blade light weaving together like a fine curtain.

A crimson barrier of light manifested before Huang Ming—his absolute strongest defensive maneuver—yet against the full force of the Break Incantation, it endured for a mere half-breath before shattering completely.

Splat.

Huang Ming attempted to execute his corpse-shifting displacement once more, but he was a fraction of a second too late, and his right shoulder was pierced clean through.

Gravely wounded and his vital energy depleted, Huang Ming would require at least half a month of quiet seclusion to recover.

Huang Ming had consumed a Qi-Replenishing Pill midway through, yet as the battle drew to its conclusion, he still found himself facing a critical shortage of spiritual energy.

Lu Yang, on the other hand, had not consumed a single medicinal pill to restore his energy from start to finish, a feat owing both to the sheer potency of the Invincible Pill and to his daily regimen of eating tofu during his initial days of cultivation.

Prolonged consumption of tofu could regulate a cultivator’s balance of the five elements, granting far greater endurance during combat.

"I concede!" Huang Ming said through gritted teeth, forced to acknowledge the reality of his defeat as he swallowed a pill to heal his wounds.

Lu Yang sheathed his sword and offered a smiling greeting, as though he were not the very person who had just wounded Huang Ming.

"Whatever possessed you to disperse your cultivation and start over?"

Huang Ming sighed: "I was too impatient in my youth and failed to lay a solid foundation, which left me trapped at the mid-Integration Stage, unable to break through for the longest time. It just so happened that this was a perfect opportunity to disperse my cultivation and rebuild, so I underwent reincarnation."

Lu Yang found this strange: "Then why did you not join the Five Great Immortal Sects? The resources of an Immortal Sect are bountiful, surely superior to the Corpse-Driving Sect."

"The Immortal Sects are not so easily entered; there are too many masters, and there is no telling who might uncover our true identities. You, on the other hand, possess quite the audacity—not only sneaking into an Immortal Sect, but acting in such a high-profile manner."

Recalling Lu Yang’s formidable spiritual perception, Huang Ming assumed that he too was a reincarnated cultivator rebuilding his strength.

He proceeded to inquire: "Seeing how unique your cloning technique is, I must admit I have never heard of it, nor is there any record of it in history. It must be an extinct art with no surviving lineage. Were you a cultivator of the Great Gan era?"

"No, I did not disperse my cultivation to start anew."

"Quit boasting. If you weren’t a reincarnated cultivator, how could you have bested me? Tell you what, I shall lay my cards on the table: I am Venerable Huang Cen of the Great Yu Dynasty. What is your name? Perhaps I have heard of your title."

Lu Yang did not answer, merely staring at Huang Ming in silence.

Huang Ming seemed to grasp something from that gaze.

Huang Ming: "..."

Lu Yang: "..."

"You are a cultivator from the Great Yu Dynasty?!"

"You are truly a disciple of the Dao Seeking Sect?!"

The two spoke simultaneously, their voices overlapping.

Lu Yang had assumed Huang Ming was merely some senior from the Corpse-Driving Sect who had chosen to rebuild his cultivation, hence his casual tone; he had never expected Huang Ming to be a cultivator from the ancient Great Yu Dynasty.

Huang Ming was even more shocked than Lu Yang. The combat prowess Lu Yang had displayed was actually achieved step-by-step through standard cultivation without any prior accumulation, a feat that not even the Grand Preceptor could have managed at this realm!

Were the geniuses of this grand era truly so terrifying?!

Meng Jingzhou realized the gravity of the situation; Huang Ming was actually a Great Yu cultivator.

Man Gu and Zhao Po were encountering an ancient cultivator for the very first time, so their reactions were not quite as intense as those of Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou.

Huang Ming reacted swiftly, his voice turning sinister and his eyes clouding over with an ominous shadow, devoid of any warmth: "Good, very good. As expected of a genius born of this grand era, to think you could drive me into such a wretched state!"

"Since that is the case, you cannot be allowed to live!"

"Originally, I intended to kill everyone who overheard our conversation after we finished speaking, but now it seems even you must die!"

Huang Ming no longer concealed his murderous intent, invoking a secret method to summon his companion.

"Daoist Fellow Meng, kill them all!"

"Be careful, Lu Yang! An Integration Stage cultivator is approaching!"

The moment the Immortal Fairy’s warning echo ceased, a pressure as immense as a towering mountain descended upon the area.

A middle-aged man with hair that was mostly white appeared in the sky, completely ignoring Lu Yang and the others as he looked down at Huang Ming with a mocking smile.

"Daoist Fellow Huang, how did you end up in such a miserable state?"

"If it were you, you would be no better!" Huang Ming snapped in fury. This Lu Yang’s natural talent was terrifyingly high; even a dignified Integration Stage master like himself who had restarted his cultivation could not defeat him.

If this boy were allowed to grow, what would become of them?

He had to be eliminated immediately!

"Easily done, easily done," the ancient cultivator addressed as Daoist Fellow Meng chuckled. A mere handful of Golden Core cultivators could be obliterated with a flick of his finger.

"It... it's him!" The Drowned Ghost shouted instinctively upon sensing that familiar aura.

"It was him who knocked me unconscious and brought me all the way here from the Eastern Sea!"

Daoist Fellow Meng looked down, and seeing it was that particular Drowned Ghost, he let out a low chuckle.

"So it is that Drowned Ghost from the Eastern Sea."

Lu Yang was startled. This meant that the ghost calamity in Hanshui City was engineered by this Daoist Fellow Meng, who had gathered ghosts from various places and dumped them into Hanshui City, though their ultimate objective remained a mystery!

Daoist Fellow Meng spared no further glances for the Drowned Ghost; a Nascent Soul stage spirit was unworthy of his attention: "I shall help you slay these people and forge the scene of the crime, making it appear as though you perished alongside this Drowned Ghost. That way, you can continue to remain within the Corpse-Driving Sect. In return, you must reveal the location of one of your hidden treasuries."

Huang Ming gritted his teeth, harboring immense fury but daring not to voice it; this was blatant extortion, yet he was utterly powerless to resist.

"Fine!"

"Haha, then I shall thank Daoist Fellow Huang in advance for the generous gift!"

Having secured what he desired, Daoist Fellow Meng no longer held back, looking upon Lu Yang and the others as if they were already corpses.

"Young lads, this seat is merciful. I shall grant you the choice of your demise: shall you be skinned and de-boned, refined into human elixirs, or have your bodies pierced by a hundred ghosts until you perish?"

Cold sweat poured from Lu Yang and his companions, drenching their backs, and Zhao Po in particular had never witnessed such a terrifying scene.

"Then what kind of death do you choose for yourself?"

An abrupt voice shattered the deathly silence of the scene.

"Who is there!" Daoist Fellow Meng cried out in shock, utterly failing to perceive when this newcomer had arrived!

Boom—

Fellow Daoist Meng was struck by the five-colored light wheel and plummeted from the sky, spitting fresh blood, a flicker of panic flashing through his eyes.

With this single blow alone, he could feel the vast chasm in strength between himself and his opponent.

The newcomer was clad in a green robe, hands clasped behind his back, his tone indifferent, with the five-colored light wheel resting behind his head like a deity.

"The Sect Master of the Five Elements Sect, Qiu Jin'an."

(End of this chapter)