The Modern Martial Immortal

"A supreme divine ability for protection, a supreme divine ability for killing, and a supreme divine ability as movement art..." Xi Hong watched as Yaoguang charged back into battle, wielding the Two-Realm Ruler and carrying the Wandering Dragon Sword, and bleak despair could be seen in his eyes.

Those two treasures were, at minimum, top-tier spirit treasures passed down from at least the third generation.

On top of that, Yaoguang possessed three supreme divine abilities, and he had practiced all three to an astonishingly profound level, likely only a step away from complete perfection.

To think they had actually run into such a monster.

Xi Hong no longer even had the mind to blame Xi Hai.

It was not because Xi Hai had been careless, nor because he had failed to investigate beforehand.

No matter how one looked at it, this Heavenly Dao Sect disciple named Yaoguang should only have been an unusually powerful Blazing White Golden Core cultivator, at most someone whose combat power exceeded the norm and rivaled an Azure Golden Core cultivator.

With 460,000 Pure Yang Grand Pills to be potentially gained, the Xi family should have been able to handle him with ease.

Yet they had never imagined that they would provoke a monster who could not be measured by common sense.

As the saying goes: Walk by the river often enough, and sooner or later your shoes will get wet.

The Xi family had finally reached the day they would pay for everything they had done.

"Family Head, gather every expert in the family and kill him, kill him!" Xi Hai roared in a low voice.

His face was filled with fury, hatred, and even a trace of fear.

"Only by killing him and obtaining the supreme divine abilities and top-tier spirit treasures on him will Sixteenth Brother and Third Granduncle not have died in vain. Only then can we recover the Xi family’s losses. Only then... can our Xi family have a path to survival..."

A path to survival! Xi Hong shuddered violently, instantly realizing the true meaning behind Xi Hai’s words. The Xi family’s path to survival!

In theory, even if every one of them here was wiped out, the Xi family would not be completely erased, because they still had sufficient strength in the imperial capital.

But from the fear buried in Xi Hai’s tone, it was easy to guess that what he truly dreaded was Yaoguang’s terrifying talent and future potential.

Yaoguang was just a Blazing White Golden Core cultivator, yet he had already practiced three supreme divine abilities to near perfection.

If he advanced to the Azure Golden Core Realm, how monstrous would he become?!

And once he became a true disciple, how many Void-Refining Realm or even Void-Shattering Realm experts would scramble to take him as a disciple?

The moment he became the disciple of some Void-Shattering Realm elder in the Heavenly Dao Sect... Even if he merely became the disciple of a Void-Refining Realm peak master, he would already possess overwhelming backing.

By then, the Xi family truly might face extinction. Their entire family could be annihilated.

"This is all your doing!" Xi Hong furiously rebuked Xi Hai, but his psychic thought immediately spread across every Xi family cultivator. "All Radiant Sun Golden Core cultivators, listen to my command. Slay this wicked man!"

"Yes!" Upon receiving the order, the Xi family cultivators shouted in unison and charged into battle.

For a family, glory and ruin were always shared together.

"Kill!" Faced with the cultivators joining the fight, Yaoguang showed no mercy.

Or rather, with the Supreme Emotional Detachment, he had almost completely severed the influence of emotion upon himself. Only one thought remained: Destroy every enemy as quickly as possible.

Using the Nine Heavenly Transformations in coordination with the Two-Realm Ruler, he avoided clashing head-on with Xi Hai and Xi Hong. Instead, he continuously flashed through space while the golden light of the Wandering Dragon Sword massacred the Radiant Sun Golden Core and Blazing White Golden Core cultivators one after another.

Nearly every sweep of golden light brought death or grievous injury to an expert of the Xi family.

Xi Hai and Xi Hong repeatedly unleashed divine abilities, trying to bind Yaoguang in place and create openings for concentrated attacks. But with their respective combat power being only 640,000 and 770,000, they simply could not restrain him.

Worse still, Yaoguang refused direct confrontation. He focused solely on cutting down the Xi family’s other Golden Core elites. All they could do was chase helplessly behind him, watching their family's forces be slaughtered with no means to stop it.

After seeing yet another Blazing White Golden Core being killed, Xi Hai could no longer contain himself and roared, "You call yourself a disciple of the Heavenly Dao Sect, yet all you do is run like a rat with its head tucked in? If you have the courage, fight me head-on!"

Yaoguang’s calm, emotionless voice echoed through psychic thought. "You, a mighty Azure Golden Core, speak only of bullying the weak with superior numbers. If you dare charge alone 1500 kilometers into the sky, I will grant you a duel to the death!"

Xi Hong and Xi Hai exchanged glances.

Neither dared rise alone into the skies.

They had already experienced Yaoguang’s strength firsthand. Even together, victory was uncertain. If they were separated, their defeat would only be a matter of time.

We need more people! Xi Hong's heart grew increasingly frantic.

His psychic thought rapidly spread, sweeping across most of Haizhou's capital. "Fellow cultivators, if any are willing to join me in slaying this wicked man, the Xi family will be endlessly grateful. Any Radiant Sun Golden Core cultivator who acts will receive one thousand Pure Yang Grand Pills. Any Blazing White Golden Core cultivator will receive ten thousand. Any Azure Golden Core cultivator will receive one hundred thousand! Payment will be made regardless of the outcome!"

One thousand, ten thousand, one hundred thousand Pure Yang Grand Pills just for taking action, based on your cultivation? And regardless of the result?

Many Radiant Sun Golden Core, Blazing White Golden Core, and even the few Azure Golden Core cultivators present were immediately tempted.

But before they could act, Yaoguang’s psychic thought spread across the city as well. "The Xi family apparently has hundreds of thousands, even up to one million Pure Yang Grand Pills to hire Blazing White Golden Core and Azure Golden Core cultivators against me, yet they refused to pay the 460,000 pills they owed me, dragging themselves into this disaster. Are they lying? Or is it simply that the Xi family’s word is worth less than a fart? First, they make grand promises and leave debts unpaid; then, once the crisis passes, they deny everything. Worse, they may even settle accounts afterward with every cultivator who took advantage of the chaos!"

The moment those words were spoken, the cultivators who had been eager instantly cooled down.

That's right. Credibility. What credibility does the Xi family have?

Isn't this mysterious expert attacking the Xi family precisely because Xi Hai’s greed has made him run into a brick wall, making him end up trapped in his own web?

Now that the Xi family is in mortal danger, it's not surprising that they are willing to offer us that many Pure Yang Grand Pills. But once the crisis passes, whether they will actually honor that debt is uncertain.

Risking my own life gambling on the credibility of a great family? That's naive. On the North Sea Star, any force that kept its word has long since been devoured while it was still weak.

In the end, all the cultivators who had been tempted decided to remain on the sidelines, at least for the time being.

Some were even secretly considering whether, if the Xi family truly collapsed, they could take advantage of the ensuing chaos to seize resources.

No one dared touch Haizhou's capital itself. But in the surrounding cities, there were still Xi family cultivators. Those places might be fair game for looting in the flames of disaster.

Golden light flashed, and another Blazing White Golden Core expert of the Xi family died on the spot.

This one was Xi Hong’s own son, a prodigy who had reached the Blazing White Golden Core Realm in just a little over a hundred years of cultivation.

He had originally entered the Great Shang’s Jixia Academy and obtained a status comparable to that of a true disciple of a top immortal sect, though unlike true disciples, he did not receive the sect’s resource stipend.

He had come to Haizhou only because of an assignment, and had happened to pass by the capital, deciding to rest with the family for a short while. Instead, he met his end.

Xi Hong was overwhelmed with grief. His attacks became even more frenzied.

Relying on the Two-Realm Ruler and Nine Heavenly Transformations, Yaoguang continued weaving across the battlefield.

When he saw that the moment was right, his psychic thought once again spread throughout the entire Xi family.

"Xi Hai, this matter began because of you. Come with me deep into the heavens and fight to the death. Once you die, I can let bygones be bygones for the rest of the Xi family. I have no wish to completely offend a family backed by Void-Piercing Realm experts! But if you remain stubborn and insist on dragging the entire Xi family into a fight to the death against me, then today, not a single member of Haizhou's Xi family will be spared. Your whole family will be wiped out!"

"Yaoguang!" Xi Hai’s eyes burned with mad fury.

Suddenly, Xi Hong’s psychic thought echoed in Xi Hai's mind. "Agree to it. Stall for time. The family's protective array is nearly repaired and can soon be activated by force. Once that happens, lure him inside the family grounds. With the array’s power, even if we cannot kill him, we can trap him and hold out until more family members arrive from the imperial capital!"

"Alright!" Xi Hai responded through psychic thought, but on the surface, his savage expression only deepened. "A battle to the death? Then I will settle this with you! After this battle, regardless of the outcome, all grudges will be resolved!"

As he spoke, his body shot skyward, rising straight into the clouds.

Yaoguang immediately followed close behind.

Yet after the two had only ascended for five hundred kilometers, Yaoguang, who had been chasing behind, suddenly took a sharp turn downward.

With a sweep of the Wandering Dragon Sword, ripples spread through space. He even invoked a trace of the power of the Longxiang Flying Vessel.

Though it was only the slightest fraction, the amplification from the Dao Artifact pushed the Two-Realm Ruler to its absolute limit. With one step through the void, it was as though Yaoguang had crossed the void itself, instantly appearing above Xi Hong, who was preparing to repair the family's array.

The ripples caused when traveling through the void further amplified the might of Space-Splitting Strike. By the time he descended from the heavens, the power of this supreme divine ability had risen to its utmost peak.

"Yaoguang!" The sight made Xi Hong’s eyes split with rage.

The two Azure Golden Core cultivators had barely managed to withstand Yaoguang’s sword edge when working together. Now, suddenly separated, and with Yaoguang descending through space itself and unleashing a lethal strike from above... What could he possibly use to block it?!

"You shameless coward!" His furious, hate-filled psychic thought exploded through the void.

With overwhelming rage, he launched a desperate counterattack, and his divine ability collided head-on with the descending Space-Splitting Strike.

Energy exploded with a loud rumble. And at the center of the explosion, Xi Hong was instantly crushed into dust, rage and despair being the last things he felt.

The ground where the Xi family stood seemed to sink violently.

Then, a void ripple capable of crushing everything burst outward from the point of impact, blasting every building, pavilion, and palace of the Xi family into the sky before turning them into powder.

At the same time, the Xi family’s middle- and lower-ranked cultivators, who had never even been qualified to enter such a battle, were also shredded to pieces.

"Ahhh!" High in the heavens, Xi Hai, who had turned back and rushed downward, saw the scene of the Xi family’s complete destruction and let out a cry of agony so intense it bordered on madness.

"Why?! Why?! 460,000 Pure Yang Grand Pills! Wasn’t it only 460,000 Pure Yang Grand Pills?! You killed two Void-Piercing Realm experts of my family, and that still wasn’t enough? You killed my family head and my entire family?!" Xi Hai's eyes were bloodshot, as if he had gone insane.

"I gave you a chance, and you refused to listen. This was the only way to make you wake up," Yaoguang replied.

Amid smoke, flowing light, and blazing flames, Yaoguang slowly rose once more from above the Xi family’s ruins.

"But judging by your appearance, you are still not awake..." Yaoguang said.

"Die! Die! You must die today!" Xi Hai’s face twisted in madness. His psychic thought erupted as the Azure Golden Core within him began violently collapsing. He was forcibly attempting a breakthrough to the Void-Piercing Realm!

Because he understood clearly that if he did not reach the Void-Piercing Realm, he alone could never defeat this monstrous opponent!

Only by forcibly breaking through to the Void-Piercing Realm would he have a chance to kill Yaoguang and wash away this humiliation!

Otherwise, even if he somehow survived today, after committing such a catastrophic mistake, his Void-Piercing Realm ancestors would never spare him!

"Break!" he shouted.

He had to go mad to achieve a breakthrough!

"The Void-Piercing Realm is not something you break through like this." Yaoguang saw through Xi Hai’s intentions at a glance. He even saw through the transformation of his Golden Core.

Xi Hai’s resolve to stake everything on life or death had raised his chances of breaking through by perhaps ten or twenty percent.

Though that only brought the odds to a total of forty percent, Yaoguang, in his Supreme Emotional Detachment state, would never give him even the slightest opportunity. He wouldn't allow any variable to arise.

In this state, he cast aside all distractions and desires, using every method possible to secure absolute victory.

With a loud hum, the golden light of the Wandering Dragon Sword pierced forward. Visible ripples spread outward, driving a tidal wave through the void itself. That tide was then compressed into a single point and, through the sword tip, slammed violently into Xi Hai.

"No!" Under the desperate scream of Xi Hai, his Azure Golden Core completely collapsed, spiraling out of control.

A vast azure radiance burst forth.

In an instant, countless azure beams and surging waves of energy poured out like an ocean of blue light, filling hundreds of kilometers in every direction. Its brilliance illuminated all of Haizhou's capital.

As he was completely swallowed by the rampaging azure energy, Xi Hai’s heart filled with deep hatred, fear, and an indescribable irony.

"460,000 Pure Yang Grand Pills..." he muttered.

Just 460,000 Pure Yang Grand Pills. And yet, they had been the end of the Xi family, despite their status in Haizhou's capital.

They had truly been blinded by greed, becoming foolish beyond redemption.

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