At this moment, heaven and earth fell silent.
In Jiangdong, Jiangbei, Jiangxi, and Jiangnan, towering Dharma Bodies rose from the ground, breaking through the thirty-six layers of Gang Clouds, gazing into the distance toward the direction of Chongguang.
Above the firmament, the stars manifested.
These were not real stars, but the manifestations of those holding fruit positions; some radiated Buddhist light, some released rampant sword Qi, and those at the Foundation Establishment Realm were a tangled mess.
However, in the next second, a violent wind swept through.
The wind flew for a thousand miles, snow drifted across ten states, instantly cutting off all the strange phenomena—surprisingly, it was True Lord Clear Snow in Flight who had acted, blocking all prying eyes.
At an unknown time, radiant light had already begun to emerge from Chongguang's body.
Not only from him, but the entire Kingdom of Qing, from the highest officials to the commoners, all began to glow with radiant light, looking at their own bodies in astonishment.
This light spread outward from them at the center, quickly expanding in all directions—houses, cities, mountains, rivers—and finally, even the cultivators of the Kingdom of Qing were tainted by it, from Qi Refining, to Foundation Establishment, to Mid Foundation Establishment, and even the escaping True Person of the Five Elements was no exception.
“What is this?”True Person of the Five Elements looked astonished.
As a True Person at the Mid Foundation Establishment Realm, he could see more truths than the clueless mortals.
Thus, he quickly discovered the source of the radiant light.
【Official Position】.
He had long since pledged loyalty to the Dao Court and had received an official position from it, and now, it was this very 【Official Position】 he had accepted that was emitting radiant light.
“Something's not right!”
At this moment, True Person of the Five Elements suddenly felt a sense of foreboding in his heart and immediately activated his magic power, intending to discard the 【Official Position】 on his body.
However, how could a Dao Court position be discarded so easily?
Thus, as he activated his magic power, not only did the radiant light from the 【Official Position】 fail to diminish, it even expanded further, and at an increasingly rapid pace.
It was like a single lamp.
A single lamp might be insignificant, illuminating only a small space, but a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand lamps could erupt with brilliance like that of the sun.
“Pa!”
In the next second, the lamps were lit.
The first to be ignited were the residents of the capital of the Kingdom of Qing.
They burned fiercely in their bewilderment, their flesh turning into lamp oil, their muscles and bones becoming lamp stands.
This burning quickly spread.
At first, it was just the mortals, then the cultivators, followed by houses, cities, and finally, the entire Kingdom of Qing was engulfed in flames!
No one could resist, because they were merely 【Subjects】, while Chongguang was the 【Sovereign】!
If the sovereign wanted the subjects dead, the subjects had no choice but to die!
The flames consumed the entire Kingdom of Qing, leaving only piles of white bones in their wake; all had become fuel for the flames!
In an instant, countless astonished gazes from all directions converged on True Person Chongguang, staring into his gentle and calm eyes.
Even Lü Yang revealed a hint of surprise.
In the Saint Sect, True Person Chongguang had always had a relatively good reputation, considered one of the less beastly ones, and a good leader to his subordinates.
Yet now, he had done something like this.
A blood sacrifice of the entire 【Kingdom of Qing】!
This grand spectacle, this vast land, had suddenly been drained of all life by him, turning millions of citizens into fuel for his lamps!
In the past, Lü Yang had also considered the fact that the Kingdom of Qing, as a wonder infiltrated by the Dao Court into Jiangbei, had long been deeply influenced by the True Lord's fruit position.
It could be reversed, but never completely expelled.
You could reverse it today, but the Dao Court could restore it tomorrow.
It would only result in a tug-of-war, so what meaning would that have?
Now Chongguang had provided the answer.
Reversing the rules was only the first step.
Now that the 【Seizure of Power】 had succeeded, he never intended to keep the 【Kingdom of Qing】 at all, but planned to end it once and for all!
By killing everyone, the 【Kingdom of Qing】 would naturally cease to exist!
Others might call it cruel, but in the Saint Sect, they generally called it efficient.
“Under heaven, only the Dao Court system is capable of something like this.” True Person Chongguang said with a smile, then turned his gaze toward Lü Yang.
“But next, Yuan Tu, you will have to suffer a bit.”
Lü Yang was stunned upon hearing this: “What?”
Boom!
Almost at the same time, dark clouds gathered above the firmament, with flashes of lightning appearing—clearly a heavenly punishment!
But the target was not True Person Chongguang—it was Lü Yang!
“Why is it striking me!?”
Lü Yang's face turned extremely grim.
At this moment, the situation had been settled, and True Lord Clear Snow in Flight had released the karmic bindings, so he quickly calculated the cause.
‘It’s because True Person Chongguang is framing me!’
‘The 【Kingdom of Qing】, as a wonder, was not just part of the Dao Court but also a part of heaven and earth, once integrated by the Dao Court's Emperor.’
‘However, now, True Person Chongguang had performed a blood sacrifice on the entire 【Kingdom of Qing】, turning it into the resource for his advancement to True Lord.’
‘This was equivalent to cutting flesh from the body of heaven and earth itself, harming heaven and benefiting himself.’
‘This act was far more severe than damaging the earth veins; how could such behavior not incur heavenly punishment?’
In an instant, Lü Yang came to a realization:
‘So that’s why he had me kill the King of Qing!’
‘Because I killed the King of Qing, Chongguang could achieve all of this, making me the true initiator, allowing him to shift all heavenly punishment onto me!’
What a beast!!!
Pretending to be a good leader all along, providing protection and casually gifting all kinds of spiritual treasures, just to set me up like this?
Is this how a leader should act!?
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At this thought, Lü Yang couldn’t help but look at True Person Chongguang.
I trusted you so much!
And this is how you betray such a loyal subordinate like me?
——Fortunately, I had long been prepared.
In the next second, without hesitation, Lü Yang activated the Heaven-Deceiving Great Method he had obtained from True Person Blood Demon, transferring all the descending heavenly punishment elsewhere.
And the targets of the transfer were none other than the many Foundation Establishment True Persons of Jiangbei who had previously received his generous gifts, countless divine powers, cultivation methods, and spiritual treasures!
These were all karmic debts—now, return them to me!
In an instant, the dark clouds that had almost locked onto Lü Yang suddenly paused, as if discerning something.
Then, with a loud explosion in the sky, they shattered into pieces, splitting into more than a dozen smaller dark clouds, flying toward the direction of Zhalong Pass, no longer bothering Lü Yang.
“.Oh?”
Seeing this scene, even True Person Chongguang showed a look of surprise.
He immediately calculated with his fingers, then let out a hearty laugh.
“Hahaha, well done!”
“Truly worthy of being the pillar of my Saint Sect!”
As his voice fell, Lü Yang saw the 【Invisible Sword】 in his hand bloom with radiant light.
A strand of metal essence detached from it, gently falling into his palm.
“You deserve this.”
True Person Chongguang's voice drifted over, and Lü Yang accepted it calmly.
Because only he understood the true meaning behind True Person Chongguang's words.
Why had True Person Chongguang used this strand of metal essence as a reward?
Because with the protection of the metal essence, one would not be shrouded by the enigma of the womb during reincarnation.
And in Chongguang's eyes, after being struck by heavenly punishment, Lü Yang would surely end up like the former Arhat Fulong, utterly ruined, destined to live countless lifetimes as livestock.
Thus, he had bestowed a strand of metal essence to prevent total downfall.
After the tribulation ended, there would still be a chance to return.
This was probably one of the few remaining bits of kindness from True Person Chongguang.
After all, Lü Yang was indeed a fine talent and very handy to use.
However, Lü Yang had not been struck by heavenly punishment.
Since that was the case, this strand of metal essence was purely Lü Yang’s reward—something he had earned through his own ability, and Chongguang had acknowledged this achievement.
“All right, you may step down.”
True Person Chongguang waved his hand, signaling Lü Yang to withdraw.
From beginning to end, he had never shown any vicious or ruthless expression, only calm and peace.
Calmly igniting the 【Kingdom of Qing】.
Peacefully slaughtering everyone.
Including Lü Yang, whom he had unhesitatingly used to shift the heavenly punishment.
Though he never said it outright, his every word and action conveyed one message: to prove my fruit position, your deaths were worth it!