The Modern Martial Immortal

The power Yaoguang had displayed was already beyond what the Yin Lunar Sect could deal with. True, they still had their three strongest supreme elders at the stellar core, but calling them back wasn’t an option.

Doing so would mean facing the wrath of a Dao Lord. What need was there for a Yin Lunar Sect that could not even manage one small matter? A sect that would fall in front of a single cultivator at the Void-Shattering Realm?

With the experts in the stellar core unable to assist, sealing the sect was the only choice.

In an instant, the fury that had filled Yue Wuying drained away, as though all his strength had been pulled out of his body. ”The dignified Yin Lunar Sect, one of the Six Great Fiendish Dao Sects, beaten into sealing its sect by a single man of the Heavenly Dao Sect...”

That was an unparalleled disgrace!

”Where there’s life, there’s hope. After showing his strength so completely, Yaoguang will soon rise onto the Dao Lord Candidate Rankings, near its very top. When that happens, some void Dao Lords might grow wary of him and will surely want him dead...

”Especially the Abyssal Ruins Dao Lord. Having lived a hundred and twenty thousand years, there is nothing he despises more than geniuses of the Dao of void who reach the Void-Shattering Realm at a young age, and nothing he enjoys more than smothering the most gifted Void-Shattering talents cultivating the Great Dao of void!” the remaining fiend lord said calmly. ”Once Yaoguang falls, we will take back all lost territory, piece by piece.”

At those words, some energy seemed to seep back into Yue Wuying’s hollowed-out frame.

The nail that sticks out gets hammered in. A genius like Yaoguang might have been fine on any other road, but he cultivated the Dao of void and flaunted it openly, driving the Yin Lunar Sect into sealing itself all by himself... He had earned his own death.

”Seal the sect!” Yue Wuying issued the order once more. ”From this day forward, the Yin Lunar Sect is sealed!”

Then he added, ”And spread the word: Yaoguang is a genius of overflowing talent, certain to become a void Dao Lord! What’s more, he once obtained a top-tier void-type Dao Artifact thanks to a stroke of luck. That is how he was able to cut through the Yin Lunar Sect single-handedly and force us to seal our gates!”

The Yin Lunar Sect’s sect master wore an icy sneer. ”Things being what they are, we can no longer afford to stand on the sect’s dignity. Let our sect’s very name serve as his stepping stone. We will lift him up high, only to smile the day he falls from that height and shatters to pieces.”

The fiend lord nodded slightly.

Whether anyone believed the part about a top-tier Dao Artifact did not matter. If it could influence the thinking of those top Void-Shattering cultivators, or Dao Lords, capable of killing Yaoguang, then the rumor would have done its work. Even the smallest shift in their attitude would be enough.

What came next... would be watching him raise the towering mansion, watching him host his lavish banquets, and finally watching his mansion come crashing down.

What is too rigid breaks easily. On the North Sea Star, the Dao Lords were the true sovereigns. For a genius like Yaoguang, the more dazzling he was, the faster his death would come.

”Just wait. His good days are numbered.” It was the last stubborn assessment Sect Master Yue Wuying allowed himself.

***

An entire region, the fifteen thousand kilometers surrounding the Heavenly Curse Sect, had been nearly flattened by Yaoguang’s Great Annihilation Sword Qi. Mountains and rivers had shifted, and seawater hung from the sky.

Yaoguang was sitting on a boulder at the bottom of an enormous canyon. Steep cliffs more than three thousand meters high rose on both sides, like two colossal walls or two conjoined towers hundreds of stories tall, piercing the clouds and blotting out the surrounding sky. Anyone at the bottom of the canyon would only see a long and narrow ribbon of sky if they looked up.

The canyon’s interior was vast as well, more than three thousand meters across, spacious enough to host an entire city on its floor.

And this canyon, three thousand meters deep and a hundred kilometers long, was nothing more than the mark left by a single stroke of his sword qi grazing the ground.

In tearing open the earth, he had discovered a treasury in the area. Though even accounting for everything in it, the total was worth less than a single Dao Artifact, he had the whole Nine Cauldrons Sect behind him, so none of it would go to waste.

After taking inventory of the spoils, he did not leave right away, instead turning his attention back to his mental world.

A little faster than I expected. Yaoguang looked at the experience that had appeared on the Daemon Hunter branch.

Then his gaze shifted to the Merchant branch, where a considerable amount of experience had also accumulated.

Every Void-Shattering fiendish cultivator I kill not only feeds the Daemon Hunter branch, but once I capture their Dao Artifacts, the Merchant branch greatly profits as well. So even though I only killed seven Void-Shattering fiendish cultivators this trip... the experience is already enough to raise the Merchant branch to the fifteenth tier, and even cover most of the fifteenth tier’s progress...

He recalculated the gains, and quickly reached a conclusion: If every Void-Shattering cultivator from the alien races he hunted from here on carried three Dao-Artifact-level spoils...

Six should do it.

Six Void-Shattering aliens bearing three Dao Artifacts each would be enough to completely transform the ancient tree in his mental world into a crystalline glazed treasure tree.

But I can’t keep killing in the Yin Lunar Sect. For one, they’ve fully retreated, hiding behind their level 15 sect-guarding grand array, something I may not be able to break with my current power. And if I keep going, the Yin Lunar Sect will probably beg the Dao Lord behind it for help.

And as he was now, he could not contend with the power of a Dao Lord.

A moment later, Yaoguang sprang toward the sky, rising above the white expanse that had been the Heavenly Curse Sect, then deployed his flying vessel and left the Yin Lunar Sect behind, heading for the southern domain.

Even using the vessel rather than the Two-Realm Ruler, the return from the Yin Lunar Sect to the Southern Capital did not take long.

The southern domain was still prepared for war. The teleportation array, in particular, was kept in semi-activated mode.

Once needed, the southern domain and the Heavenly Dao Sect headquarters would connect instantly, letting Zhen Xuanyuan, Chi Yun, and the other Void-Shattering supreme elders rush over to help defend the southern domain.

But none of it was needed now.

”Shut down the teleportation array.” Yaoguang’s psychic thought reached the domain lord’s residence.

”Deputy Sect Master!”

”My lord, you’ve returned!”

”What happened? I heard Supreme Elder Gu Li and Supreme Elder Bu Zhou came over together with Supreme Elder Jinghong?”

The moment Yaoguang arrived, the crowd hurried to meet him. Li Hanqiu, Wan Liugui, Qi Sha, and Wu Changfeng were all there.

”It’s fine, the matter is settled. Perfected Lord Jinghong has realized that only under my rule can the Heavenly Dao Sect look forward to a truly bright future. He won’t be causing us any more trouble,” Yaoguang said. ”Also, I’ve made some repairs to the Heavenly Dragon-Slaying Array. It now has a low-consumption mode. Even in that mode, it will still burn several million Pure Yang Grand Pills a year, but an expense like that is nothing to us now. That shall be the everyday standard from here on.”

”Yes, I’ll go activate the array at once.”

”You’ve persuaded Perfected Lord Jinghong, Deputy Sect Master? Wonderful! If Perfected Lord Jinghong doesn’t object, the sect master’s seat is surely yours!”

”Congratulations, Deputy Sect Master.”

They offered their congratulations one after another, faces wreathed in smiles.

Yaoguang nodded to them. ”Come with me.”

He led them off without explaining further, moving quickly to a palace laid with numerous communication arrays and psychic-thought projection arrays.

Activating the arrays, he cast a strand of psychic thought straight into them. Carried by the arrays’ power, it crossed the void and projected directly into the Heavenly Dao Sect’s receiving array.

That array was kept under the watch of a Void-Piercing elder. Sensing Yaoguang’s psychic thought, he scrambled to his feet. ”Deputy Sect Master Yaoguang.”

”Mhmm. Have the two supreme elders Zhen Xuanyuan and Chi Yun come see me,” Yaoguang instructed, then seemed to think of something. ”Has Supreme Elder Gu Li returned? If he has, call him over as well.”

”Supreme Elder Gu Li has returned. I’ll summon them at once,” the Void-Piercing elder answered immediately.

Yaoguang’s position was merely that of deputy sect master; in theory, he had no standing whatsoever to summon three supreme elders to come to him.

Yet the Void-Piercing elder found nothing off about Yaoguang’s request at all, as though three supreme elders presenting themselves before him were the most natural thing in the world.

Soon, Zhen Xuanyuan and Chi Yun came hurrying over. Gu Li, only recently returned, arrived looking grave, and at the sight of Yaoguang he mustered a smile that was polite yet unmistakably awkward.

He came straight to the point. ”Deputy Sect Master Yaoguang, that earlier business really was a misunderstanding. I’ve already had a generous gift prepared and sent to the southern domain... I hope that, since we both belong to the same sect, you might be willing to show some leniency...”

”That can be discussed.” Yaoguang’s reply was calm, remaining unreadable and betraying no attitude.

”Deputy Sect Master Yaoguang, what happened exactly? Perfected Lord Bu Zhou, he...” Zhen Xuanyuan could not help asking.

”Perfected Lord Bu Zhou was tragically slain by the Foolish Soul and Soul Slayer Fiend Lords. I’ve already sent someone over with a duplicated Recording Stone. You may announce it at the sect and hold his memorial. However...” Yaoguang’s voice stayed level. ”I have also avenged Supreme Bu Zhou. I invaded the Yin Lunar Sect’s territory by myself, and I have cut down five great fiend lords in succession: Eerie Night, Heavenly Prison, Slaughter Sin, Golden Lion, and Curse Seal. I killed until the rivers ran red, and made the Yin Lunar Sect repay its debts in blood. As for whether the news is true or false, I trust the spies you’ve planted in the Yin Lunar Sect will confirm it for you soon enough.”

His tone was calm, as if he were just giving an ordinary report, but the content left Zhen Xuanyuan, Chi Yun, and Gu Li gasping.

The reports they had received did indeed indicate that Yaoguang had stormed into the Yin Lunar Sect and gone on a killing spree.

But their planted agents didn’t have any prestigious position: all they had learned was that Yaoguang had barged into the Yin Lunar Sect’s territory and thrown it into disarray, with no details of what had actually happened. Now, hearing Yaoguang describe it in person...

”Eerie Night, Heavenly Prison, Slaughter Sin, Golden Lion, Curse Seal... five Void-Shattering fiend lords...” Zhen Xuanyuan’s voice felt parched, his psychic thought running a beat slow. ”Are they really all dead?!”

”Dead.” Yaoguang gave a slight nod. ”And not only them. Soul Slayer and Foolish Soul, the two fiend lords who killed Supreme Elder Bu Zhou, are dead as well. I have avenged him.”

”Adding Soul Slayer and Foolish Soul...”

”The Yin Lunar Sect has lost seven supreme fiend lords this quickly?!”

”My god...”

Never mind Chi Yun and Gu Li... even Zhen Xuanyuan, the chief supreme elder standing at the peak of the Void-Shattering Realm, felt completely horrified.