The Modern Martial Immortal

Under the combined efforts of Wan Liugui, Ling Ruogu, Chi Yu, Qi Sha, and the others, the Southern Capital had returned to normality in just a single month.

The protective array that had blanketed the city for over a fortnight was shut down. The state of high alert within the city was lifted. A great number of shops reopened their doors, and countless merchants and clans from all across the southern domain moved freely in and out of the Southern Capital, bringing goods and people.

This superb metropolis of thirty million cultivators, home to nearly one-fifteenth of the southern domain's population, gradually revealed the prosperity it was always meant to embody, constantly feeding the domain lord's residence with abundant tax revenue.

But what really brought Yaoguang genuine joy, more than the Southern Capital's gradual return to order, was the arrival of Li Hanqiu and the rest of the Nine Cauldrons Sect.

***

At the private air dock outside the domain lord's residence, the Void Disk descended, and one figure after another stepped out from within. Yaoguang, Wan Liugui, and the others had all been waiting there for a while.

As Li Hanqiu, Li Qingshan, Huang Tianhao, Lou Yuyu, Shen Qinglian, Tang Fenghua, and the others descended from the Void Disk one by one, Yaoguang went forward personally to greet them despite being a Void-Refining cultivator. "Welcome to the southern domain! From this day forward, this is the place the Nine Cauldrons Sect will call home!"

"Good!" Li Hanqiu replied.

Li Hanqiu had been taking in the splendor of the Southern Capital throughout the entire journey here aboard the Void Disk. A city of thirty million cultivators was something that could hardly be imagined back in the impoverished lands of Yunzhou. What made it even more remarkable was that the majority of those thirty million were Core Formation cultivators, with Unity Realm and Foundation Building cultivators being genuinely rare. The development prospects for the Nine Cauldrons Sect, now that it had relocated to such a rich environment, were boundless.

"Factions that come to the North Sea Star from outside go to great lengths to secure a foothold of their own, but every corner of the North Sea Star was long ago divided up among the great orthodoxies of the various Dao Lords. The core territories are inaccessible, and the external territories are not only resource-poor but riddled with exploitation, slaughter, and chaos. People living there can barely survive from one day to the next, let alone find the time and energy to cultivate and grow," Li Qingshan said.

Li Qingshan shook his head with a sigh. "In those circumstances, the elites of every faction end up being picked apart and absorbed by the larger powers, while the ordinary cultivators fade into darkness or quietly perish in some forgotten corner, their factions dissolving with the passage of time."

He looked at Yaoguang, his eyes bright. "And yet, since the Nine Cauldrons Sect arrived on the North Sea Star, apart from a period of fighting and turmoil right at the beginning, we've been able to carve out our own corner of peace. Before the Great Shang Immortal Dynasty could even move against us, Perfected Lord Yaoguang had already risen so swiftly that they didn't dare make a move against us. And now, here we are, brought to the Heavenly Dao Sect's southern domain..."

"The Nine Cauldrons Sect has endured its hardships, but they're behind us now," Huang Tianhao chimed in with feeling.

"With Yaoguang watching over us, what hardships did we really endure? To say it was plain sailing the whole way would not be an exaggeration." Lou Yuyu laughed heartily. "Coming to the North Sea Star alongside Yaoguang was the best decision any of us ever made. Without him, how would any of us in the Nine Cauldrons Sect have reached where we are today?"

Shen Qinglian, Tang Fenghua, and the others nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly.

Every one of them had, at a minimum, reached the Radiant Sun Golden Core Realm. The most talented among them had, through sheer accumulated resources, reached the Blazing White Golden Core Realm. If the resources kept flowing, they might reach the Azure Golden Core Realm in a few more decades.

And all of this from the day they had left the Great Cangwu World for the North Sea Star, barely thirty years in total.

Thirty years. From Core Formation, or even the Unity Realm, to crossing four or five realms of cultivation to reach the Radiant Sun Golden Core Realm...

All of it was thanks to Yaoguang.

"Now that you're here, the strain on my people can be greatly eased," Yaoguang said, turning to Li Qingshan. "Especially you, Sect Master Li. The development of the southern domain going forward will require a new set of policies and support structures, and those are not areas where I excel. I'll need Sect Master Li to take charge and draft a framework for us."

"Development policies... Policies on the North Sea Star don't amount to much in practice. One unexpected event can unravel even the most carefully laid plan, and on the North Sea Star, unexpected events have a way of arriving in every conceivable form," Li Qingshan said with a wry smile.

Yaoguang understood what he meant. The North Sea Star was a place that cared nothing for rules and everything for strength. The world's rules were made from the top down.

And who stood at the very top? The Dao Lords. What were the Dao Lords after? They had come to the North Sea Star for the Gate of the Immortal Realm. For immortality.

Whatever stood in their way would be crushed.

These were powerful figures sweeping through an unfamiliar domain. The kind who came in, took what they wanted, and left.

It was precisely because there were so many of them that the North Sea Star's order had been shattered.

Even the train stations of the mortal world, with all their comings and goings, had always been breeding grounds for chaos. The immortal cultivation world, where incomprehensible power was concentrated, was all the more so.

But Yaoguang...

"Let's start by building up order. I don't care what others do, but on my territory, things will be done by the rules," Yaoguang said.

Li Hanqiu, standing beside him, blinked in mild surprise and said after a moment, "That will be quite difficult, won't it?"

"We can try. If it works, all the better. If it doesn't, all we've lost is some time and energy," Yaoguang said with a smile.

Li Qingshan listened and gave a careful nod. "Please be assured, Perfected Lord Yaoguang. I will draw up a suitable set of rules based on the southern domain's conditions."

Yaoguang nodded.

Order, in a certain sense, represented safety. And safety was the most precious thing on the North Sea Star.

Consider the Biyou Immortal Market. Why had the cave dwelling rental business been so wildly prosperous there? It was because, sheltering under the name of Penglai Dao Lord, widely regarded as the single strongest cultivator on the North Sea Star, they had sold what was, at its core, a sense of safety.

If the southern domain could offer the same guarantee, the guarantee that those living within it could go about their lives in peace, then even without the upcoming series of Dao Artifact auctions, the southern domain would become the most prosperous territory in all of human-inhabited lands over the coming decades, drawing countless people to invest and settle there as its reputation spread by word of mouth.

With the arrival of Li Qingshan and the others, who were able to quickly fill any position that had been left unstaffed, the Southern Capital's development began moving at speed.

Throughout this process, Qi Sha and the Heavenly Ruin Hall stood watch, deterring any who might seek to cause trouble.

Qi Sha was a cultivator of the Great Dao of Destruction. His mastery of the Great Annihilation Sword Qi had recently broken through to a new level, placing him firmly among the most formidable fighters at the Void-Piercing Realm. Even five ordinary Void-Piercing cultivators joining forces might not be enough to take him down, and against those of merely average strength at that realm, his Great Annihilation Sword Qi might cut them down before they could even act.

Furthermore, any faction that dared to send out a Void-Piercing cultivator was committing to a fight with no way out. Yaoguang, as a Void-Refining cultivator, was no one to trifle with either. The moment he acted, he would exterminate not only that Void-Piercing cultivator, but the entire family or faction standing behind them.

Of course, such incidents were rare in the end. With death all but guaranteed, very few factions with a Void-Piercing Realm expert dared to truly challenge the authority of Yaoguang as domain lord.

As such, even as the Southern Capital and southern domain developed rapidly, Yaoguang still had ample time to attend to his own affairs.

***

Within the domain lord's residence, atop the newly constructed Artifact Refinement Peak, Yaoguang studied the sword-shaped Dao Artifact in front of him, one that had nearly dissolved into the void and seemed to contain within it the power of an entire world. His brow creased in contemplation.

"Forging a top-tier Dao Artifact might be a bit too conspicuous..." Yaoguang remarked.

Even among Void-Refining cultivators, only half possessed a Dao Artifact at all. It was typically those at the Void-Shattering Realm who could produce one or two, and the wealthiest among them might have three or four. Figures of Zong Wenxian's standing as sect master of the Heavenly Dao Sect, or Zhen Xuanyuan as its chief supreme elder, might perhaps possess a high-grade Dao Artifact.

Yes, just a high-grade Dao Artifact. As for top-tier Dao Artifacts? That was something only the Dao Lords possessed.

For him to directly attempt forging a top-tier Dao Artifact was certainly a considerable investment of time and effort. But...

"I have time going forward, and the resources to match. So spending a little extra time and energy on trying to forge a top-tier Dao Artifact is no problem at all. Once it's done, even as a 'humble' Void-Refining cultivator, I would very likely have the power to kill a Void-Shattering expert."

Yaoguang looked at the Limitless Sword, still in its early stage of refinement, and settled his mind.

If he was going to forge something, he would do it right from the start.

He shifted his gaze from the Limitless Sword to the Wandering Dragon Sword, the Two-Realm Ruler, and the Heaven-Sealing Stele. Under the Spirit Nurturing Technique, the finest materials imbued with Dao Artifact essence were being steadily absorbed and refined by all three.

This process required almost no effort from him.

After all, a proper Dao Artifact cultivating and growing on its own was nothing more than the basic requirement, wasn't it?

What actually demanded his time and focus were three other items he was working on in parallel: a void-type Dao Artifact called the Void Sword, an Annihilation Sword, and a Dao Artifact warship he had named the Nine Cauldrons.

The Void Sword needed little explanation. As a void-type Dao Artifact, and with the Void Great Dao being the most widely cultivated among all the Great Daos, putting the Void Sword up for sale anywhere on the North Sea Star would fit the needs of more than half of the attending Void-Piercing and Void-Refining cultivators. Their Dao Seeds would already be attuned to it.

The Annihilation Sword was custom-made by Yaoguang for Qi Sha, built around the foundation of the Great Annihilation Sword Qi. For a devoted follower who had given his everything in service, Yaoguang naturally would not be stingy.

As for the Nine Cauldrons warship, unlike the Void Disk and the Longxiang Flying Vessel, this was a true Dao Artifact warship. Given his current status as deputy sect master, a Dao Artifact warship was the finest way to project his standing.

And with this warship paired alongside the Annihilation Sword, the Heavenly Ruin Hall under Qi Sha's command would be capable of overwhelming the entire southern domain, enough to give even the two Void-Refining cultivators, Jing Zhengyang and Wu Changfeng, serious cause for concern.

Even with the Spirit Nurturing Technique and Treasure Refinement Technique, forging three Dao Artifacts simultaneously while preparing a top-tier Dao Artifact on the side is already pushing my limits. Every piece of Dao Artifact material still has to pass through my hands for spirit nurturing before the artifact spirits within these Dao Artifacts can absorb them one by one. The scale of this undertaking has even started to cut into my cultivation time...

Three Dao Artifacts being forged at once had his schedule packed to capacity.

Fortunately, it was only a temporary state. Going forward, he would reduce the frequency at which he refined Dao Artifacts. Or perhaps...

"Should I push my artifact refiner level up one more step? All the way to level 16?"

A level 15 refiner could already forge top-tier Dao Artifacts.

What would a level 16 refiner be forging? Immortal artifacts?

After a moment, Yaoguang let the idea go.

The North Sea Star was a place of disorder where strength was supreme. While honing one's craft was always worthwhile, pushing his refiner level to 16 would likely drive up manpower costs further. It was better to focus on advancing his cultivation and reach the Dao Integration realm as quickly as possible.

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