Sin Becomes a God

Chapter 19: I Won’t Fall for It

As Lu Renjia rode off into the distance, Abbess Mie Jue, clutching the Yitian Sword, stood frozen in place. As a first-tier martial artist—and, moreover, a woman who led the Emei Sect, one of the Six Great Sects—Abbess Mie Jue naturally had her pride. However, when facing the demonic cultists, her ability to launch a surprise attack from behind—while not exactly honorable—was something no one dared to criticize in the slightest. “Hmm? When did the Demon Sect produce such a skilled fighter? How could he actually evade the sword energy of my Yitian Sword?” Abbess Mie Jue muttered to herself. Just then, the two Elders of Mount Hua—dressed in white lab coats emblazoned with red crosses, resembling Florence Nightingale tending to the wounded—leaned in. “Abbess Extinction… did you actually hit her?” “Exactly… that person seems to have dodged your sword energy…” “And they say, ‘Once the Yitian Sword is drawn, who can stand against it’? Yet that masked man just dodged it, didn’t he?” Furious, Abbess Extinction turned her head with a cold expression and snapped, “Why don’t you two try to dodge the sword energy of my Yitian Sword and see if you can?” “Hehe… just kidding… just kidding. Don’t take it to heart. We must have seen it wrong. That masked man clearly had his little ding-ding sliced off by you, Venerable Master Extinction, and fled in disgrace…” “Exactly, exactly… We didn’t see clearly and were talking nonsense, slandering Abbess Extinction’s reputation… How could that masked man possibly be a match for Abbess Extinction? Your divine martial arts are peerless, and your swordsmanship is unmatched… We were mistaken… We were mistaken…” With that, the two shameless elders of Mount Hua hurriedly retreated to a safe distance. When Lu Renjia leaped back onto the small hill, he immediately spotted Xiao Zhao, dressed in red. Seeing Lu Renjia return safely, Xiao Zhao, with tears in her eyes, threw herself into his arms. Lu Renjia was taken aback, a look of surprise crossing his face. He smiled helplessly, knowing full well that, as a soul traveling through time, he and the woman before him were destined to have no future together. Moreover, even in the original course of events, Xiao Zhao would have gone to the Ming Sect in Persia to serve as the Holy Maiden in order to save her mother, the Purple-Robed Dragon King Dai Qisi. Patting Xiao Zhao on the shoulder, Lu Renjia said softly, “There are too many people from the Six Great Sects, and my Senior Grandmaster and the others are all mixed in among them. I can’t turn the tide of battle right away. It seems our best course now is to hurry to Bright Summit—that way, perhaps I can be of some help to my maternal grandfather… Xiao Zhao, are there any other routes leading to Bright Summit?” Xiao Zhao had been sent to Bright Summit by her mother, the Purple-Robed Dragon King Dai Qisi, when she was a child, tasked with finding the *Qiankun Da Nuoyi* cultivation manual to spare her from the burning at the stake by the Persian Sect of Light. Over the years, Xiao Zhao had disguised herself as a maidservant and lived among the people of Bright Summit. She knew every trap and secret passage on Bright Summit by heart—except for the Sacred Tomb. “Rest assured, Young Master. Aside from this path, there is another route leading to Bright Summit…” Upon hearing Xiao Zhao’s words, a barely perceptible smile flashed across Lu Renjia’s face. Barring any major mishaps, the path Xiao Zhao referred to should lead to the rear mountains of Bright Summit; once there, all he had to do was enter the Holy Tomb of the Ming Cult to encounter Cheng Kun. Fearing that if the world’s trajectory shifted by twenty percent, he might miss his chance to encounter Cheng Kun, Lu Renjia paid no heed to her blushing cheeks. He picked Xiao Zhao up in his arms, headed in the direction she had indicated, and, using the Wudang “Tiyun Zong” lightness technique, leaped several times, covering hundreds of meters toward the north in a matter of moments. As they moved further away from the main battlefield where the Six Great Sects were clashing with the Ming Sect’s Five Elements Banners, the cries of battle gradually faded. Lu Renjia, who had been sprinting while holding Xiao Zhao, suddenly came to a halt, blinded by the dazzling white light before him. Xiao Zhao, nestled in Lu Renjia’s arms, was also unable to open her eyes against the blinding white light. “Young Master… these men must be brothers from the Sharp Metal Banner among the Five Elements Banners… You are the Eagle King’s grandson; as long as we reveal our identities, the brothers of the Sharp Metal Banner will surely let us pass…” Before Lu Renjia could speak, Xiao Zhao called out to the Sharp Metal Banner disciples who were standing in battle formation in the distance: “Brothers of the Sharp Metal Banner… I am Xiao Zhao, a maid to the Eagle King, and this is Young Master Zhang Wuji of Wudang—he is also the Eagle King’s grandson! I implore you, brothers of the Sharp Metal Banner, to let us pass…” The Deputy Commander of the Sharp Gold Banner, clad in silver armor, was taken aback for a moment, then a savage grin flashed across his face. “Is the man before us Young Master Zhang Wuji of Wudang?” With the keen eyesight of a先天 master, the menacing grin on the other’s face naturally did not escape Lu Renjia’s notice. He thought to himself: It seems that although the course of the world has been altered by twenty percent, the Blue-Winged Bat King, Wei Yixiao, is still relying on his peerless agility to sneak into the headquarters of the Six Great Sects under cover of night. Lu Renjia bowed slightly and said in a loud voice, “I am indeed Zhang Wuji of Wudang. The White-Eyebrowed Eagle King is my maternal grandfather. With the Six Great Sects besieging Bright Summit, Zhang Wuji has come specifically to lend his aid!” “You admit it? Hmph… It seems there’s no mistake… Sharp Gold Banner, heed my command! Kill!!!” “Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…” At the command of the Sharp Gold Banner’s deputy bannermaster, the whistling sound of Wolf’s Tooth arrows filled the air, transforming into a hail of arrows that rained down on Lu Renjia and Xiao Zhao. With wide eyes, Xiao Zhao cried out in disbelief, “Young Master Zhang really is the Eagle King’s grandson…” “Hmph! The Six Great Sects are despicable and shameless—sending someone to impersonate the Eagle King’s grandson in an attempt to infiltrate Bright Summit and assassinate him. Do they really think we don’t know?” the deputy commander of the Sharp Gold Banner barked coldly. Facing the hail of arrows swarming toward him like locusts,Lu Renjia showed not the slightest fear; a dismissive smile curled at the corners of his mouth. If he were a second-rate martial artist, facing a hail of arrows as dense as rain, he would likely be at the mercy of his enemies. But as a先天 master, he was one of the very few standing at the pinnacle of the martial arts world in the universe of *The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Demon Sect Leader*. With a flick of his palms, Lu Renjia instantly condensed the surging Nine Yang True Qi. “Nine Yang Incineration!!!” The Nine Yang True Qi, visible to the naked eye, instantly transformed into an incredibly scorching current of energy. As Lu Renjia swung his palms repeatedly, a searing vortex instantly enveloped both him and Xiao Zhao. The deputy commander of the Sharp Gold Banner, seeing the man before him—who claimed to be Zhang Wuji—swinging his palms repeatedly, found the sight laughable. Could a pair of bare hands really withstand this hail of arrows capable of storming cities and capturing fortresses? But what happened next left him so astonished he couldn’t close his mouth. As the Wolf’s Tooth arrows closed in, they were instantly reduced to dust by Lu Renjia’s searing Nine Yang True Qi. Before anyone could react, Lu Renjia reached out to wrap his arm around Xiao Zhao’s slender waist, pushed off with the tips of his toes, and leaped into the air. “Xiao Zhao, it seems they’ve mistaken us for spies from the Six Great Sects. There’s no point in saying more—let’s go!” With her slender waist once again wrapped in Lu Renjia’s arms, Xiao Zhao felt his arm brush against her most private area. Her pretty face flushed, and she nodded before saying, “Young Master, let’s head up the mountain. There’s a secret passage there that leads to Guangming Peak…” Using the shoulders of the Sharp Gold Banner cultists as springboards—like a dragonfly skimming the water’s surface—Lu Renjia sprinted wildly while holding Xiao Zhao in his arms. From a great distance, he could already see the two blood-red characters on the mountaintop. A faint smile flashed across his lips. Pretending he didn’t want to get entangled with the Sharp Gold Banner cultists but had nowhere to flee, Lu Renjia said to Xiao Zhao in his arms, “Let’s take shelter in that cave first…” With the speed of a先天 master, how could the Sharp Gold Banner followers possibly keep up? After shouting a few helpless warnings—such as, “Take one more step forward, and neither of you will have a place to be buried…”—they gave up the chase. “Deputy Banner Master… those two spies…” The Sharp Gold Banner’s Deputy Bannermaster shot him a withering glance and barked in a deep voice, “Pursue them? No one who has ever entered the Sacred Tomb has ever come out alive—it’s riddled with traps… Hmph. Even if that man’s martial arts are formidable, without water or food inside the Sacred Tomb, those two won’t make it out alive either! Let’s go… down the mountain to back up the others…” Having advanced to the Innate Martial Artist realm, Lu Renjia could still see his surroundings clearly in the darkness. The pitch-black passageway was littered with skeletal remains. Judging by their rotting clothes, these were likely followers who had carried the successive leaders of the Ming Sect into the tomb before committing suicide as a martyr’s sacrifice. The scene before him left Lu Renjia secretly aghast. “How is the Ming Sect even more depraved than the Wheel Sect? Suicide as a form of burial? Damn… did these Ming Sect leaders from past generations really think they were emperors?” Lu Renjia thought to himself. In the darkness, Xiao Zhao could vaguely make out the piles of white bones, which terrified her so much that she cowered in Lu Renjia’s arms, too afraid to peek out. “Young Master… we’ve… we’ve stumbled into the Sacred Tomb. This is where the Ming Sect’s leaders have been buried after their deaths… but there’s a path here that leads straight to Bright Summit…” Xiao Zhao reminded him timidly. “All right… then let’s take this path! I hope we can reach Bright Summit as soon as possible to help my grandfather…” Lu Renjia said, nodding. In an instant, Lu Renjia’s keen senses—those of a先天 master—flared up as he listened intently to every sound and movement around them, for he hoped to eliminate Cheng Kun right here and now. Sure enough, after Lu Renjia had carried Xiao Zhao for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, he heard a burst of incredibly arrogant laughter. “Hahahaha… Yang Ding Tian… Grand Master Yang… Do you see this? Today… is the day your Ming Sect will be destroyed! Back then, you used your superior martial arts to steal my junior sister—I’ve held this grudge for a full ten years. I’d originally thought that if you could make her happy, I, Cheng Kun, would have accepted it… but who would have thought you’d become obsessed with the *Qiankun Da Nuoyi* cultivation technique and neglected my junior sister? Hmph… The opportunity I’ve waited ten years for has finally arrived. Just as I was having a secret rendezvous with my junior sister, you actually caught us in the act…My poor junior sister begged you desperately to let me go… She even went so far as to take her own life to give me a chance to escape… Today, at last, is the day I avenge my junior sister!” “Yang Ding Tian… you didn’t know, did you? Back when I joined the Shaolin Temple, I was secretly a confidant of the Prince of Ruyang… After all these years of painstaking scheming, the feud between those fools from the Six Great Sects and your Demon Cult has only deepened… Hmph! Today, I, Cheng Kun, will use the Six Great Sects and the Yuan Dynasty’s army to wipe out both your Ming Sect and the Six Great Sects in one fell swoop… Hahahahaha… Yang Ding Tian… do you see this? I, Cheng Kun, will extinguish the sacred flame of your Ming Sect! I, Cheng Kun, will slaughter every single member of the Ming Sect… All of this is retribution for you taking my junior sister away all those years ago…” Just as Cheng Kun was laughing maniacally without restraint, an icy voice sent a chill down his spine. “Hmph… I haven’t even asked you yet, and you’ve already confessed everything… It seems there’s no need for further words before I kill you…” Lu Renjia said coldly. “You have the nerve to say that after seducing my husband? I never imagined it was you—that masked monk—who instigated the conflict between the Six Great Sects and our Ming Sect! Young Master… don’t let him get away!” Xiao Zhao cried out indignantly. Furious and humiliated, Cheng Kun’s face darkened. With his left hand forming a sword seal, he roared, “You upstart, meet your end! Phantom Yin Finger… Turn Water to Ice!!!” The icy true qi凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于凝聚于 “Nine Suns in the Heavens!!!” A straight punch slammed directly toward Cheng Kun’s fingertips. Determined to finish the fight with a single strike, Lu Renjia instantly unleashed ten thousand points of combat power! How could Cheng Kun’s eight thousand points of combat power possibly withstand that? “Crack…” The excruciating pain of his index and middle fingers shattering made Cheng Kun let out a wail of agony as his entire body flew backward like a kite whose string had snapped. The *Nine Yang Divine Art* could even counter the *Xuanming Divine Palm*—let alone Cheng Kun’s *Phantom Yin Finger*? As the scorching Nine Yang True Qi flooded his body, Cheng Kun felt as if he were being roasted alive inside a furnace. With a dull “thud…,” Cheng Kun crashed heavily to the ground. He staggered to his feet, only to “gasp…” as a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of internal organs spurted from his mouth. For a moment, Cheng Kun was stunned. When had such a young martial arts prodigy emerged in the martial arts world? “Wait… wait a moment… Who are you? What grudge do you hold against me? The Ming Sect has committed countless evils… I’m merely upholding justice on behalf of Heaven… Wait… I have a colossal secret to tell you…” Seeing that Cheng Kun had survived his punch—which had channeled the full power of his Nine-Layered Nine-Yang True Qi—Lu Renjia couldn’t help but be astonished. He thought to himself, “He really is a formidable figure worthy of being targeted by the ‘Evil God System’… With that kind of strength, he’s at least E+ level…” Last time at the Tongfu Inn, with Cheng Kun, Xuan Ming, and the other elder all present, Lu Renjia hadn’t been confident enough to kill him, so he’d missed his chance—not only that, but the “Evil God System” had deducted 500 Sin Coins from him. Under these circumstances, why would Lu Renjia waste any more words on his opponent? Although Lu Renjia’s martial arts techniques weren’t as refined as those of Cheng Kun—who had been an undercover agent at Shaolin for over a decade—the gap between an Innate Martial Artist and a First-Rate Martial Artist couldn’t be bridged by technique alone. In the face of absolute power, any schemes or tricks were utterly meaningless. At that moment, Lu Renjia truly savored the exhilaration that absolute power brought. “A colossal secret? Too bad I don’t want to know… Die in peace with your secret…” As soon as Lu Renjia finished speaking, he instantly channeled his Nine Yang True Qi to its peak. “The Nine Yang in the Heavens…” The Nine Yang True Qi bursting from his fist instantly coalesced into tangible gong energy, surging toward Cheng Kun. Determined to kill with a single blow, Lu Renjia unleashed his full power. The ferocious Nine Yang True Qi transformed into a whirlwind, sweeping up the fallen Cheng Kun and slamming him directly into the rock face. “Boom… rumble… rumble…” Under the assault of the overwhelming Nine Yang True Qi, not only was Cheng Kun reduced to a bloody pulp, but rocks from the ceiling of the cave were also shaken loose. “Congratulations to the Qualified One for defeating Cheng Kun… On the path of sin, countless masters must serve as stepping stones… May the Qualified One continue to strive for greater achievements…” As the notification from the “Evil God System” rang out in Lu Renjia’s mind, he let out a deep breath.