The Divine Martial Sect’s intrusion ended in an instant.
With Ouyang Haize dead, neither Wu Zhichong nor Duanmu Yuan dared linger. They fled without a word, as if a savage beast snapped at their heels.
In stark contrast, the marketplace erupted into cheers. After this battle, Skull Mountain Marketplace felt as solid as a tortoise shell; without a Foundation-Stage cultivator, the Divine Martial Sect would hardly dent it. The zombie tide? A mere nuisance.
In a word — safe.
And where there is safety, there is business. Prosperity was just around the corner.
But that excitement belonged to others. Lü Yang found it noisy and distant. His heart still hammered with lingering dread. Ever since Xiao Shiye had been lured away by Perfected Fortune, Foundation-Stage cultivators had become an unshakable shadow in his life.
The thought that one of them might be scheming against him again erased all joy from slaying Ouyang Haize. Instinctively, he grasped the Primal Qi Divine Talisman at his chest. Only when he felt its protection still active did his breath ease.
It hid karmic links — it did not sever them. A layer of false karmic lines deceived diviners rather than breaking fate outright.
"So I wasn’t the target," he realized. "I was collateral."
Then the Lunar Goddess Jade made sense. Not fortune. Not coincidence. Someone had slipped that jade into his hands for a purpose.
"What purpose?" he muttered.
He looked at Ouyang Haize’s split corpse. Clues — and wealth — might be found there.
With a sweep of the Myriad-Soul Banner, he refined the bisected body. The Spirit was damaged — only seventy percent remained — but the banner retained memories and fragments of the disciple’s past.
Enough to reveal the Divine Martial Sect’s plan.
Beneath Skull Mountain lay a secret realm of the Ancient Wu Ghost Sect, and a Yin-rich lay line was leaking power. The Divine Martial Sect aimed to monopolize that realm, uprooting the market to claim the vein.
"A fortune of information," Lü Yang murmured. "Turn it in, earn contribution points, and let others risk their lives for it."
That thought comforted him. He would not step outside the marketplace while a Foundation-Stage predator prowled in secret.
As he rifled through Ouyang Haize’s relics, something bumped his hand — a round mirror wobbling close and brushing his fingers.
The Heaven Mirror.
Like an eager pet, it circled him and bounced twice, as if pledging allegiance.
"You’re switching sides?" Lü Yang said, half amused.
A childish voice echoed inside his mind: "Your artifacts bad."
Then, proud and insistent: "I better."
Lü Yang laughed. He had known sentient artifacts were sentient, but this was the first time one had spoken to him so plainly.
"Alright, let’s try you," he said.
The Heaven Mirror surrendered to his control. Lü Yang probed its essence. Inside lay a strand of Perfect Qi — the Heaven Thunder and Wind Qi — a power capable of elevating a practitioner’s strike toward Final-phase might.
Restrictions remained, of course. A single Divine Martial Sect hand seal would still command the mirror to return.
"That won’t do," Lü Yang muttered.
He refined Ouyang Haize’s Spirit into Primal Qi and bound it into the Heaven Mirror, letting the fallen disciple’s essence drive the treasure instead.
Boom.
Wind and thunder roared. Light burst forth. Power surged to the edge of Final-phase Qi Refining.
"It works," Lü Yang said, laughing as he hung the Heaven Mirror behind his head. For a moment, the mirror’s light took on a crimson tint — as if stained by Lü Yang’s own aura.
He opened Ouyang Haize’s storage bag. Spirit stones piled high. Qi pills, artifacts, rare materials — enough to fetch at least thirty thousand Contribution Points if turned in to the Stain Sect.
"A good haul," he mused. "Unlikely to see another chance like this."
News would not be slow to spread. With Ouyang Haize’s death and the revelation of the Wu Ghost Secret Realm, Skull Mountain would draw attention — and danger. A Foundation-Stage cultivator surely schemed behind the scenes.
"But as long as I stay inside and keep my head down..." Lü Yang thought, "what can he do unless he intervenes personally?"
He stashed the items, disbanded the temporary array, and flew to the rooftop of Blood Robe Tower.
From that day, Skull Mountain settled into a brittle calm.
The Divine Martial Sect sent more forces. Reinforcements from allied sects arrived. On the surface, things looked peaceful; beneath that surface, currents churned.
Word of Lü Yang’s deed spread oddly quickly. Ten years prior he had entered the Stain Sect a mortal, traded Death-Warding Skeletons for coin, secluded himself and broken through to Late-phase Qi Refining, become an Array Master, and had—against all odds—defeated a Divine Martial Sect direct disciple who had reached Final-phase Qi Refining. His rise became a parable for ordinary disciples holding out hope.
Slowly, respect replaced ridicule. Many stopped using his given name.
A new title took root:
"Bloody Master."