The Modern Martial Immortal

A jeweled flying vessel radiating five-colored light came to a stop above Haizhou's capital.

Shortly after, two figures emerged from the crowd in the city below and rose to meet it.

One of them was a prodigy from the Great Shang’s Jixia Academy, whose status was comparable to that of a true disciple of the Taiyi Immortal Sect.

The other was even more remarkable. The void ripples constantly emanating from him, as well as the hazy sensation that he seemed to exist in another layer of space, all proved his true strength.

The Void-Piercing Realm! A true Void-Piercing Realm expert who had opened a grotto-heaven with true spirit power and used it to contain his Primordial Void.

Precisely because true Void-Piercing Realm experts had a grotto-heaven world containing a Primordial Void inside them, their entire bodies were enveloped and surrounded by void power, making them appear as though they existed in another space.

It was also because of the constant tempering of the grotto-heaven's power, which distorted the influence of time and space upon them, that any true Void-Piercing Realm cultivator could easily live past ten thousand years.

Thus, they could really be considered to have boundless longevity.

These two were none other than Xi Liu, the ancestor of the Xi family, and Xi Chuan, another top expert of the Xi family who had reached the Azure Golden Core Realm.

Xi Chuan was the Xi family’s greatest genius, a seedling Xi Liu had placed great hopes in and intended to nurture into a Void-Piercing Realm expert.

Over the years, Xi Liu had kept him by his side, allowing him to interact with the prodigies of the imperial capital.

But this time, having him alone receive the figures aboard the flying vessel was clearly insufficient.

As a result, Xi Liu also appeared personally to welcome them.

As the two arrived, several figures appeared on the deck of the flying vessel at the same time.

The one leading them was none other than the true disciple of the Taiyi Immortal Sect who had once met Yaoguang in the Great Cangwu World, only to be intimidated by Wan Liugui and Li Hanqiu’s resolve to perish together with him and leave in haste afterward.

He was the direct disciple of the Supreme Jade Emperor, Heavenly Venerable Jiang.

Heavenly Venerable Jiang had now completely adapted to his status as a direct disciple of a Void-Shattering Realm supreme elder. Compared to when Yaoguang had met him, he had become far more dignified and imposing.

That lofty, noble air of imperial privilege was not inferior even when facing the might of Xi Liu, a Void-Piercing Realm expert.

In fact, the moment Heavenly Venerable Jiang and the others appeared, Xi Liu, despite being a Void-Piercing Realm expert, personally stepped forward and gave a fist-and-palm salute in greeting. "True Disciple Jiang."

A Void-Piercing Realm expert saluting an Azure Golden Core cultivator! It was almost unbelievable. But Xi Liu still offered that salute.

On one hand, he had something to ask of Heavenly Venerable Jiang next.

On the other hand, it was because of Heavenly Venerable Jiang’s other status besides being a true disciple. He was the direct disciple of the Supreme Jade Emperor.

Even the attendant of a powerful figure holds authority.

The direct disciple of a supreme elder did not necessarily possess a status much lower than that of a true Void-Piercing Realm expert.

This could be seen from the middle-aged man following behind Heavenly Venerable Jiang.

"Perfected Lord Mo Shan," Xi Liu greeted him as well.

"Perfected Lord Xi Liu." Heavenly Venerable Jiang and Mo Shan, the Void-Piercing Realm expert personally protecting him, both nodded slightly in greeting.

"When I arrived in Haizhou, I immediately collected all traces of aura left behind by that murderer." Xi Liu took out a jade talisman.

Heavenly Venerable Jiang did not take it. But Mo Shan stepped forward, received the jade talisman, and directly handed it to someone beside Heavenly Venerable Jiang.

"Mr. Zhi, sorry for the trouble," Heavenly Venerable Jiang said politely.

"Young Master, you are too courteous."

The other person beside him, known as Mr. Zhi, received the jade talisman and quickly began to sense its contents.

Xi Liu was slightly stunned. Then, as if realizing something, he suddenly said, "Are you Zhi Tianming, Perfected Lord Zhi himself?!"

"Perfected Lord or not, I’m still far from the Void-Piercing Realm. After all, I’m not a Dao Artifact meant for combat." The man smiled and waved his hand.

He spoke casually, but Xi Liu did not dare underestimate him in the slightest.

Perfected Lord Zhi’s identity was extraordinary. He was not human, but a Dao Artifact! A Dao Artifact whose spirituality had grown powerful enough to take on a human form.

Although he had taken human form less than a hundred years ago and, after transforming and cultivating anew, had only reached the Golden Core Realm, this Dao Artifact had followed the Supreme Jade Emperor for three thousand years. His seniority and standing were so high that no one dared look down on him.

In the Taiyi Immortal Sect, even some Void-Refining Realm experts had to respectfully address him as "Mr. Zhi" when they met him.

No wonder Heavenly Venerable Jiang was so respectful toward him.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that aboard this entire warship, Zhi Tianming was the one with the highest status.

"Perfected Lord Zhi, you're too modest. For you, reaching the Void-Piercing Realm is only a matter of time. Even reaching the Void-Refining Realm, and perhaps even the Void-Shattering Realm, will hardly be difficult for you. It should all come naturally," Xi Liu said with utmost courtesy.

"Cultivation is easy. Being human is hard." Zhi Tianming sighed with some emotion. "Even now, I still don’t understand why you humans enjoy fighting and killing so much. Aren’t you all the same species, the same kind? Wouldn’t gathering together and combining everyone’s strength to pursue Dao Enlightenment, ascend, and become immortals be far more meaningful than fighting and killing? I don’t understand. I truly don’t understand."

Both Xi Liu and Heavenly Venerable Jiang looked somewhat embarrassed.

But they knew artifact spirits were beings that spoke in such a direct manner.

In fact, those were likely his true thoughts.

They lacked many of the emotions and senses humans possessed, so the angle from which they viewed things was naturally different.

It was like how some newly born stellar lifeforms could not understand why humans, as a powerful species, could not even perform nuclear fusion, and why their bodies did not even reach temperatures of tens of millions of degrees.

This was the cognitive gap stemming from differing concepts of life.

"Although I don’t know why you people insist on killing each other without end, since it is Old Master’s command, I will naturally cooperate. As for whether I can actually find him, I can’t guarantee that," Zhi Tianming said as he crushed the jade talisman Xi Liu had handed him.

"With Mr. Zhi making a move, success is assured." Heavenly Venerable Jiang smiled from the side.

"The Dao I govern is neither destiny, ranked first among all Dao, nor karma, ranked within the top ten. It is merely a trivial little Dao of deduction, hardly worth mentioning. And the Dao of deduction is far too easily disturbed by external factors." As Zhi Tianming spoke, strands of unique Dao resonance spread from his body. Invisible ripples appeared throughout the void, as though something had been stirred and was now being consulted, then deduced through a mysterious method.

Only a moment later, the Dao Artifact stopped.

"I can only tell that he is currently in the Chaotic Sea. Beyond that, I cannot deduce anything," he answered bluntly.

"The Chaotic Sea?" Heavenly Venerable Jiang and Xi Liu, who had likewise placed all their hopes on this group to find the culprit who destroyed the Xi family, were both stunned.

"The Chaotic Sea is so vast. Mr. Zhi, what is his exact location?" Heavenly Venerable Jiang could not help but ask.

"I cannot deduce it," Zhi Tianming repeated. "The interference is too strong. At most, I can determine that he is north of the Chaotic Sea. Beyond that, I know nothing."

"Interference?" Mo Shan seemed to realize something and immediately pressed further. "How could there be interference? Has he already reached the Void-Piercing Realm? But with the shallow understanding Void-Piercing Realm cultivators have of the void, it should not be enough to disrupt your deductions. Fourteen years ago, you directly deduced the approximate location of a Void-Piercing Realm expert with an error margin of less than fifty kilometers."

"It’s a Dao Artifact," Zhi Tianming answered directly. "He has a Dao Artifact on him."

Then he added, "Most likely, he has more than one. That’s why I can only determine that he is north of the Chaotic Sea. Anything more precise is beyond my ability."

The moment those words fell, whether it was Heavenly Venerable Jiang, Mo Shan, or Xi Liu, all were deeply shaken.

"He has a Dao Artifact?!"

"More than one?!"

"How is that possible?! He came from the Great Cangwu World and has been on the North Sea Star for less than twenty years. How can he possibly have multiple Dao Artifacts?!"

The three spoke at once.

"How should I know?" Zhi Tianming said casually, then seemed to think of something and glanced at Heavenly Venerable Jiang. "Maybe some Dao Lord accepted him as a disciple. Didn’t Old Master grant you a quasi-Dao Artifact to help you comprehend the Dao of the void, so you could quickly make your true spirit real, carry it with the void, open a grotto-heaven, and contain a Primordial Void to advance into the Void-Piercing Realm? If Old Master grants a quasi-Dao Artifact to his disciple, then a Dao Lord granting a true Dao Artifact to his disciple is perfectly normal, isn’t it?"

Artifact spirits had always possessed very distinct personalities.

They delighted in sharing their understanding of the Great Dao with other living beings.

To him, lending a Dao Artifact to someone who had not even reached the Void-Piercing Realm was not strange at all.

After all, he considered the others to be all humans, the same kind of lifeform. Helping each other, walking the path to immortality together, hand in hand... That should've been perfectly natural for them.

It was precisely because of this mindset that when Void-Refining or Void-Shattering cultivators used Dao Artifacts with artifact spirits in life-or-death combat, the artifact spirits might actually oppose their masters and persuade them not to fight.

For that reason, unless for special purposes or research, very few Void-Refining or Void-Shattering cultivators allowed their Dao Artifacts to develop artifact spirits.

"Alright, Old Master’s task is done. When are we going back?" Zhi Tianming clearly looked ready to stop working.

Why waste time going out to search for someone? Returning to Old Master’s side and swimming in the ocean of the Great Dao was far more comfortable.

"North of the Chaotic Sea... That range is too vague. How about we make a trip there? Once we arrive, perhaps we can trouble you to deduce again?" Heavenly Venerable Jiang asked cautiously.

"Even if I go there, I still won’t be able to deduce it. There are two Dao Artifacts around him interfering." Zhi Tianming shook his head.

At once, Xi Liu, Heavenly Venerable Jiang, and Mo Shan all frowned.

"Since Yaoguang is hiding in the Chaotic Sea, he must know he has caused a catastrophe. If he wants to break this deadlock, there is only one way: To participate in the true disciple assessment of the Heavenly Dao Sect, display overwhelming talent there, and draw the attention of a Void-Refining Realm peak master, or perhaps even a Void-Shattering supreme elder," Xi Liu said. "All we need to do is station watchers along the route from the Chaotic Sea back to the Heavenly Dao Sect, intercept him, and deny him the chance to return for the true disciple assessment."

"The area is still too vast. Even knowing his direction and destination, the odds of intercepting him are low." Heavenly Venerable Jiang pondered for a moment, his expression turning cold. "To be safe, we need the cooperation of elders from the Heavenly Dao Sect."

"And how do we ask for that?"

"As long as the Xi family gets Yaoguang killed, that’s enough, correct?" Heavenly Venerable Jiang looked at Xi Liu.

This Void-Piercing Realm expert hesitated.

According to Zhi Tianming, Yaoguang was carrying two Dao Artifacts.

But when he noticed Mo Shan’s piercing gaze fixed on him, he could only nod. "That’s right. I only want Yaoguang dead."

"Then it’s simple." A sharp light flashed through Heavenly Venerable Jiang’s eyes. "One Dao Artifact as payment will be enough."

Two Dao Artifacts! How long had Su Yaoguang been on the North Sea Star? Those two Dao Artifacts could not possibly have been accumulated here. That meant they could only have come from the Great Cangwu World, or perhaps from the Yaoguang World itself!

No wonder he had grown so quickly.

Who knew what opportunities he had obtained while interacting with the beings of Yaoguang World and the Lunar Fiend Empire?

For a moment, Heavenly Venerable Jiang even regretted his actions. If he had known back in the Great Cangwu World, he would have fought Wan Liugui and Li Hanqiu to the bitter end, no matter the cost, and killed Yaoguang there and then.

Fortunately, it was not too late. There was still time.

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