The Modern Martial Immortal

On Hundred-Refinement Peak, Yaoguang poured a mass of golden energy, radiant as a blazing sun, into the Limitless Sword that had only just begun to take shape. Having consumed the golden energy, the Limitless Sword, in which an artifact spirit had been born, sent out a wave of joy.

"Grow quickly, little one. I'm waiting for the day you transform into a top-tier Dao Artifact," Yaoguang said.

After feeding the Limitless Sword, he again fed the Wandering Dragon Sword with a batch of materials that had only recently gained spiritual nature.

The reason only the Wandering Dragon Sword received this treatment was that, after all his years of nurturing, it had already shown the first signs of transformation.

He intended to press the advantage and raise it to the level of a high-grade Dao Artifact first. Once the Wandering Dragon Sword had transformed into such an artifact, helping the Two-Realm Ruler and the Heaven-Sealing Stele transform as well would not be out of reach.

"In the end, my own mastery in artifact refining is a bit lacking. If I could raise my refining art to level 16, the efficiency of forging Dao Artifacts would surely rise dramatically. Then I wouldn't have to raise my Dao Artifacts to high-grade one step at a time like this. I could nurture all three at once." Yaoguang said this, but in the end he shook his head.

Although raising his artifact refinement technique from level 15 to level 16 wouldn't demand an outrageous amount of resources like raising the Immortal Dao branch to the Dao Lord Realm would, he would still have to slay a handful of Void-Refining Realm cultivators.

And unless he stormed the Yin Lunar Sect's main base, where in the world would he find that many Void-Refining Realm cultivators to kill? Even if he went again to the Deep-Blue Sea, he might not catch enough demon emperors to raise his level.

Besides, whether he stormed the Yin Lunar Sect or went on a slaughter of Void-Refining demon emperors in the Deep-Blue Sea, once the numbers grew large, his actions would inevitably draw out demon sovereigns.

Now that he had practiced the Sovereign Human Emperor and the Torrent of Time, he reckoned that facing a single Void-Shattering demon sovereign would be nothing special. But there was no countering the fact that an enemy who couldn't win could fetch reinforcements.

If one demon sovereign wouldn't do, then two; if two wouldn't do, then three, four, five, six. Surrounded and hunted by several demon sovereigns at once... Who could withstand that?

Let alone that the waters of the Deep-Blue Sea also held the Jade Scale Demon Paragon, a being beyond all rivalry.

So rather than actively hunting Void-Refining Realm fiends and demonic creatures, he could only wait for opportunities on his own ground and strike back in retaliation.

Come to think of it, it's already been four years since I refined and killed Perfected Lord Crimson Malevolence, hasn't it? And more than a year since the Heavenly Dragon-Slaying Array was repaired. That Eight Desolations Fiend Lord really is patient. And here I am, waiting for that Void-Shattering fiendish cultivator to lead his forces in, so I can raise my cultivation to the Dao Lord Realm. Yaoguang mused.

Raising his realm to the Dao Lord Realm would inevitably yield a new Dao Fruit. With all the marvels of a Dao Fruit's power, anything tied to combat would likely send his strength soaring at once.

Setting aside loftier hopes, invincibility at the Void-Shattering Realm was at least something to look forward to.

After all, the breakthrough from Void-Shattering Realm to the Dao Lord Realm was too crucial. The distance between the two was even greater than that from the Azure Golden Core Realm to Void-Piercing Realm.

If the combat power of a cultivator advancing from the Azure Golden Core Realm to the Void-Piercing Realm rose in one leap from a limit of over two million to over ten million, then the combat power of a cultivator advancing from the Void-Shattering Realm to the Dao Lord Realm amounted to going from a limit of one hundred million to over a billion.

In history, there were records of an Azure Golden Core cultivator preserving his life under the pursuit of a Void-Piercing cultivator. But Dao Lords... Whenever they had made a move against a cultivator below the Dao Lord Realm, not one had ever escaped.

There was not a single tale of anyone briefly resisting a Dao Lord or holding his ground against one, much less about slaying one against the odds.

So the Dao Fruit from the Void-Shattering Realm to the Dao Lord Realm was bound to be extraordinary. He was full of anticipation, yet the Yin Lunar Sect's retaliation never came, and Yaoguang himself had worn his eyes out watching for it.

"With my abilities now, even if I went to the Penglai Immortal Sect and that woman Leng Qingqiu made trouble for no reason, I could easily crush her. If the Yin Lunar Sect still won't launch its revenge, I'll have to make time for a trip to the Penglai Immortal Sect and request an audience with the Penglai Dao Lord. I won't ask for anything else, only that she keeps that Jade Scale Demon Paragon pinned down for me, so I can unleash a slaughter on the demon kings and demon emperors in the outer sea and greatly ease the pressure they face." As he spoke, Yaoguang reached out and took out a box.

The box was a sealing-type treasure with a vast space inside, and sealed within that space was a top-level stellar core.

The energy this stellar core held rivaled that of a high-intensity neutron star. If released, even the Southern Capital would feel the effects, and the Heavenly Dragon-Slaying Array would likely activate of its own accord and begin to operate.

But Yaoguang simply took it out and, before the stellar core's power could be released, poured it all into his grotto-heaven in one go.

Even his grotto-heaven, which had refined the Void Heart, shook faintly and hummed for a moment. The energy within the star core was swiftly refined and flowed into the grotto-heaven itself, strengthening it once more by a slight degree.

"A top-level stellar core already counts as one of the finest cultivation resources for the Void-Refining Realm. The price of anything better is so high that even I can hardly bear it. That's a privilege for a Dao Lord's personal disciple, and an exceedingly favored one at that, like Shi Lin..."

Yaoguang had already done the math: refining top-tier stellar cores to raise his cultivation to Void-Shattering Realm would likely turn into a sixty- to eighty-year-long process. But if it were refining a fiendish cultivator's heavenly fiend origin... Another seven or eight Void-Refining fiendish cultivators would be enough.

A hum rang out. Just then, he seemed to sense something. He moved and appeared at once outside the Hundred-Refinement Peak.

At the garrison of the Heavenly Ruin Battle Hall, not far from the peak, void power flowed swiftly, and at its core a terrible force of destruction seemed to be brewing without cease.

"This is..." Yaoguang felt a flash of pleased surprise. "Qi Sha is about to break through to the Void-Refining Realm?"

The anomaly at the Heavenly Ruin Battle Hall drew not only Yaoguang but many cultivators in the domain lord's residence and the Southern Capital.

When they sensed that someone at the Heavenly Ruin Battle Hall's garrison was advancing to the Void-Refining Realm, the many forces in the Southern Capital naturally felt all the more bitter.

Qi Sha! As a peak Void-Piercing Realm cultivator wielding the Annihilation Sword, he was already an undefeated figure among Void-Piercing Realm cultivators, and under his strict enforcement of the law, countless people feared him.

Now he was taking one step further and breaking through to the Void-Refining Realm. From this day on, who in all the Southern Capital could still hold him in check?

"Congratulations, Deputy Sect Master Yaoguang. Hall Master Qi Sha's breakthrough to the Void-Refining Realm is like adding wings to a tiger. The southern domain has become even more impregnable." Wu Changfeng, who had also appeared, was the first to offer Yaoguang his congratulations.

Yaoguang gave a slight nod and, with a sweep of his empty hand, activated an array meant specifically to shroud the domain lord's residence, sealing it off from the outside world.

Though with him present no one would dare disturb Qi Sha's advancement, he activated the array in advance for safety's sake.

"Hall Master Qi Sha actually broke through? Wonderful. Now our southern domain's influence is sure to climb another level." Li Hanqiu's figure appeared close behind.

Yaoguang glanced at him and asked with a smile, "How is your practice of the Nine Refinements of Star Ring coming along?"

"The progress is going smoothly," Li Hanqiu answered with a smile.

"Practice well. If you can master the Nine Refinements of Star Ring, it may be possible for you to try once more to turn your Primordial Void into a grotto-heaven and truly step onto the path of the Void-Piercing Realm," Yaoguang said.

"I'll do my utmost." Li Hanqiu nodded gravely.

That he had attained the rank of a Golden Core battle immortal in an environment like the Great Cangwu World already marked him as brimming with talent. Had he come to North Sea Star at a normal Golden Core cultivation, and enjoyed this kind of treatment over these decades, he would be an Azure Golden Core cultivator at the least, with a chance of breaking through to the Void-Piercing Realm no less than that of Ling Xi, or even Yan Huang and Heavenly Venerable Jiang.

But in the end he had walked the road of a Void-Piercing Realm battle immortal, and to cultivate back into a normal Void-Piercing cultivator through the Nine Refinements of Star Ring was several times harder than it was for the likes of Ling Xi.

So he could only say he would do his best. Whether he could really reach the Void-Piercing Realm depended on opportunity and fortune as well.

"Deputy Sect Master."

"Congratulations, Deputy Sect Master."

Just then, Chi Yu and Ling Ruogu appeared one after the other, offering a fist-and-palm salute, with the newly recruited Shu Wuya following along.

After nodding to them, Yaoguang turned his gaze back toward where Qi Sha was in seclusion. The hall master of the Heavenly Ruin Battle Hall didn't disappoint him.

In just half a month, as the force of destruction rose to its utmost within him, Qi Sha's grotto-heaven seemed to become a wellspring of destruction. At the slightest stirring of the life-bound Dao Technique seed within it—the Great Annihilation Sword Qi—boundless waves of destructive qi came surging out.

Relying on his advantages in Great Dao and Dao Technique and the affinity of the Annihilation Sword, the moment this Void-Refining cultivator broke through, his combat power was likely already on par with Crimson Malevolence.

This was the slow accumulation and sudden release of a core Great Dao. The breakthrough was hard, but the gains it brought afterward were immediate.

Not long after completing the breakthrough, Qi Sha appeared, surrounded by an aura of destruction. He bowed gravely to Yaoguang. "Deputy Sect Master, thanks to your careful guidance, I have not failed your expectations and have at last reached the Void-Refining Realm."

"Good. I knew you'd take this step. I simply didn't expect the day to come so soon," Yaoguang said with a smile.

Breakthroughs among the Void-Piercing, Void-Refining, and Void-Shattering Realms carried no real danger; after comprehending the process and accumulating enough resources, one would break through naturally. But Qi Sha's breakthrough truly had come a little faster than he had anticipated.

"I happen to have some resources suited to consolidating cultivation. I'll give them to you for that." Yaoguang handed Qi Sha a storage treasure. "Once you've adapted to your new cultivation realm, I'll be counting on you to patrol the southern domain on my behalf."

"Thank you, Deputy Sect Master. I will surely help you sweep away every petty rogue in the southern domain." Qi Sha accepted the storage treasure and saluted solemnly.

"Go," Yaoguang said with a wave.

After Qi Sha left, he addressed those who wished to congratulate him, "Qi Sha still needs time. Once he's stabilized his realm, we'll hold a feast to celebrate his advancement to the Void-Refining Realm; there will be time for you to offer your congratulations then. For now, disperse."

"Yes," The crowd acknowledged and soon scattered one by one.

As Yaoguang headed back toward the Hundred-Refinement Peak, however, he saw Shu Wuya following after him. "Deputy Sect Master."

"Hm? Is something the matter?"

"Yes..." Shu Wuya hesitated a moment, then spoke through psychic thought. "Ancestor had me relay a message. Sect Master Zong Wenxian seems to have run into trouble and can't return for the time being."

"Trouble?" Yaoguang gave a light chuckle. "To make an opening for the Yin Lunar Sect's operations, right?"

"No, it doesn't seem so this time," Shu Wuya said. "Sect Master Zong Wenxian went to the outer realm on word that he was to intercept a divine-race warship returning fully laden. As it turned out, he seems to have utterly enraged the Light Divine Race. Word is that the Light Divine Race sent out six Void-Shattering Realm divine emperors and a number of divine sovereigns. Three of them sealed off the sect master's retreat, and the other three are jointly hunting him down. Not long ago, the sect master's plea for aid finally reached the sect, and the sect dispatched four supreme elders at once to relieve him."

"Six divine emperors? The sect sent four supreme elders?" Yaoguang frowned.

For the divine race to deploy so many divine emperors, it couldn't possibly be a play staged in concert with Zong Wenxian.

So... Zong Wenxian, using the interception of the divine-race fleet as a pretext to avoid having to call on the sect for aid when the Yin Lunar Sect moved against him, had botched it?

If this news is true... the Yin Lunar Sect will likely make its move soon. Yaoguang mused.

And just as his mood turned heavy yet expectant, the communication jade talisman linking him to Mo Ye trembled. His psychic thought swept over it, and the Void-Piercing Realm cultivator's somewhat panicked report soon came through.

"Fiends from the Yin Lunar Sect are attacking!"

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