The erupting light surged like a tidal wave, shattering the array in an instant before swallowing Lü Yang, Liu Xin, and Chen Xin'an whole.
Liu Xin was the first to scream. To deal with Lü Yang, he had already summoned the Banner Spirit and then brought in Chen Xin'an, draining nearly all his remaining Qi. Now, with nothing left to defend himself, the explosive impact consumed him completely—flesh igniting, then crumbling into ash—while the powerless Myriad-Soul Banner slipped from his fingers.
"As expected of a disciple of our Stain Sect..."
With Liu Xin's death, Chen Xin'an was barely able to hold himself together; he let out a long sigh, then dispersed on the wind like an extinguished wisp.
As for Lü Yang—he was swallowed outright, erased beneath the dazzling blaze.
Only after a long while did the roiling light at last subside, revealing Xiao Shiye's figure, his face flushed with wild elation.
"I won!"
He burst into euphoric laughter. Though self-detonating a sentient artifact was his trump card, the plan of using it was riddled with flaws.
To kill someone with it, he first had to trap them.
And the explosion, while vast, could not be focused; its power scattered too broadly. Only a weakened opponent could be reliably finished off.
Worst of all, a sentient artifact had its own will. It might simply refuse to explode.
"Luckily, fortune still favors me!"
From the moment he entered the Stain Sect, Xiao Shiye felt as though fate itself had begun to smile upon him. Opportunities fell into his lap. Obstacles seemed to shift aside of their own accord.
He had sold the Death-Warding Skeletons at the height of its value, earning tens of thousands of Contribution Points.
He had stumbled upon Artifacts during a leisurely walk in the mortal realm.
When pursued by enemies, he conveniently crossed paths with Lü Yang—who served as the perfect shield.
Crisis after crisis, he always walked away unscathed, reaping the greatest profit through what appeared to be a string of coincidences.
"What a marvelous Myriad-Soul Banner. From now on, it belongs to me..."
Just as he stepped forward to claim it, a figure wreathed in blood-colored radiance materialized beside him, reaching out for the banner at the same moment.
Xiao Shiye froze. His body trembled uncontrollably.
"What, does Brother Xiao also want this Artifact?"
The Blood Shadow flickered, revealing Lü Yang's face. He turned and smiled lightly at Xiao Shiye, sending chills through him.
Are you human or ghost?
Xiao Shiye's face drained of all color. The sight of Lü Yang encased in the Blood Transformation Divine Light dredged up the images of all those he had previously drained dry.
He instantly dropped the Myriad-Soul Banner and bowed reverently.
"Congratulations, Senior Brother. This is the Myriad-Soul Banner that Junior Brother was keeping for you, now returned to its rightful owner!"
"Much appreciated."
Lü Yang accepted the "Primal Qi Myriad-Soul Banner" with a pleasant smile. After examining it briefly, he infused Qi into it and extracted two Storage Bags.
Liu Xin's and Qingchen's.
Inside lay a Manual of Primal Qi and a Crash Course: Array-Artifacts—clearly belonging to Qingchen.
"Such treasures..."
He sighed softly, memorizing both Daoist Scriptures. Then he noticed Xiao Shiye edging away little by little, clearly hoping to escape.
In truth, Xiao Shiye's trump card was surprising.
A sentient artifact self-detonation—supposedly powerful enough to kill even a Final-phase Qi Refining cultivator—should have been fatal. Yet Lü Yang alone survived.
Because he cultivated the Heavenfiend Lifeblood Offering Radiance.
Reduced to a Blood Shadow, he possessed only shape without substance; his soul resided entirely within the Sword Pill. As long as the Sword Pill endured, he would not die.
And against the blast of a self-detonated sentient artifact, the Sword Pill forged from Golden Essence and Jade Marrow weathered the force far better than mere flesh. Damaged, yes—but far from destroyed. Once the explosion faded, Lü Yang reformed, reclaiming every advantage.
With that in mind, Lü Yang found Xiao Shiye more pleasing to the eye.
His judgment had not been wrong—Xiao Shiye was indeed talented. Without him, how could Lü Yang have gained so much?
"I really must thank Junior Brother Xiao for this."
"As a token of gratitude, Senior Brother will send you on your way."
Lü Yang let out a soft laugh. With a casual wave, a streak of blood light shot forth, draining Xiao Shiye into a husk before he could utter a single word.
Leaving him alive would have been dangerous.
With fortune that high, who knew when he might rise again and seek vengeance? Better to end the threat at its root.
"But did he really die that easily?" Lü Yang murmured, eyeing the corpse. "With fortune like a Child of Destiny, shouldn't a benefactor appear at the last moment to stop me? I was prepared for it, yet it all went so smoothly…"
A faint suspicion flickered in his mind. He activated the Qi Observation Technique once more.
And what he saw startled him.
Previously, Xiao Shiye's fortune was overflowing.
But now—not even a glimmer remained.
A thought surfaced unbidden:
His fortune has run out.
"Sigh....."
A soft sigh echoed.
Lü Yang's head snapped upward—just in time for his expression to freeze, all thoughts locking in place, suspended in that single moment.
At some point, a figure had appeared before Xiao Shiye's corpse.
Clad in a crane cloak, smiling gently, waving a feathered fan—at first glance he resembled a graceful scholar on an outing.
Yet the moment he arrived, the world dimmed around him. Colors faded, sounds softened. He became the axis of all things, drawing in the fortune, wealth, and destiny of Heaven and Earth, born to inspire awe and envy in equal measure.
"Is this all that was gained?"
He extended a hand. The Manual of Primal Qi and the Primal Qi Myriad-Soul Banner lifted themselves from Lü Yang's Storage Bag straight into his palm.
A voice suddenly exclaimed from the void: "Perfected Fortune, you've emerged?"
The Daoist called "Perfected Fortune" lifted his gaze, as if addressing someone unseen, and laughed lightly: "Couldn't be helped. The one I had chosen suddenly died."
"What? Your chosen one can die? How?"
"Ridiculously enough—by his own misfortune."
"I blessed him with such Fortune, merely wanting him to fish out a Colorful Fish from the Merit Pool. But too many unexpected events drained his fortune ahead of schedule."
"And once fortune is spent, death naturally follows."
He weighed the Manual of Primal Qi in his hand, shook his head, pocketed it casually, then turned his focus toward Lü Yang.
"Now this one… is interesting."
Perfected Fortune pinched his fingers, calculating. His smile deepened.
"This person carries immense variance. Seems the uproar concerning the Death-Warding Skeleton ties back to him."
"Hmm, identity matches. But how did a mortal reach the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining before joining? A rogue cultivator, perhaps… Wait—no. Learning Supreme Heaven Sword Mastery before entering? Could he be a spy from the Celestial Sword Pavilion?"
Layer by layer, Perfected Fortune peeled back Lü Yang's past and paths. Interest grew—until he reached one detail.
"...Cultivated the Heavenfiend Lifeblood Offering Radiance?"
In an instant, the light in his eyes dulled, replaced by something akin to disappointment.
Such a person with no prospects was unworthy of grooming—and certainly unfit to become the next "Child of Destiny."
"It's a pity about that Colorful Fish in the Merit Pool. Not caught this time—looks like it'll have to wait."
Perfected Fortune withdrew his gaze. With a single step, he vanished like a fisherman departing with an empty hook.
Lü Yang remained in his position, drenched in cold sweat.